The Chase of Buffy Summers, S1
by Torendor
Summary: *Formerly: A slightly different Buffy* Cordelia's mask starts to crack when one Buffy Summers appears on the scene of Sunnydale High. It starts off cute and funny but turns very dark and emotionally complicated later on with a focus on the character development, not the monster of the day or annual apocalypses. Focus: Buffy/Cor with twists. Humor,Romance,Femslash,Drama,Hurt/Comf
1. A new Day, a new Buffy

Pairing: Really not sure yet and I don't want to spoiler, possible candidates are Willow, Buffy, Cordelia, Faith

Rating: M, will contain femslash so if you don't like that you should stop reading.

Div: This is my first fanfic and since I'm not a native English speaker I'd appreciate any help I could get on typos and grammar errors. (Seriously I don't mind being corrected at all =)

* * *

 **In front of the steps leading up to the school**

"Try not to get kicked out!" Joyce said with a somewhat forced smile as she dropped her daughter off to her first day at the new school. Smiling in return Buffy made her way up the stairs, feeling uneasy and dreading the moment when everyone found out about her past and thus reducing her social life to zilch. _'Or my present'_ she mentally added 'It's not like I don't have a sharp wooden poky thing in my bag at any given moment'.

Her mind babble came to a halt when she heard someone crashing into .. something behind her and the blondes first reaction was to keep on going to avoid anyone noticing her but she was never good at listening to any advice, even if it was her own. She turned around and saw a goofy looking guy sprawled on his back looking up at a short redhead while babbling something about a willow tree and math.

She went down a few stairs and held out a hand to help him up since the redhead seemed unfazed by the whole thing as if the guy did stuff like this all the time. "Hey are you alright? That sounded like it hurt." "Yeah sure I'm al-" he paused mid-sentence as Buffy easily pulled him up "-mighty ghost of Zeus you're strong!"

"Uh .. yeah I work out a lot." Buffy replied mentally kicking herself all the while. 'Great work slayer, already freaking out the local populous.. *sighs* I said populous, I really should stop reading up on all this demon stuff.'

"That's cool.. cool um.. Hi! I'm Xander and this is Willow, who might you be except maybe a Xena double?" Xander quipped feeling proud of himself because he came up with something related to Buffy's uncommon body strength.

"Xena wasn't blond you dufus, but the actress is .. well sometimes.. I like her more with the blond hair.. um .. yeah .. I'll just .. stop .. Hi! I'm Willow." She extended her hand quickly to interrupt her rather embarrassing flow of words.

"Of course you are." Buffy smiled and went on while her smile slowly turned into a smirk. "Xander here just said so."

Blubbering incoherently and turning all shades of red Willow started to hide behind her hair and would have most likely been swallowed up by the very earth below her feet if Xander had not jumped in. "Yeah well maybe not Xena then, but it was a good joke right?"

"Right.."

"See Willow, I'll never loose my touch, I'm touchtasticly funny." This seemed to calm down the redhead as she started to giggle and roll her eyes.

"Yes Xander, umm.. so .. you're new here right? Want to get a quick tour before your classes start?" The boy immediately piped in, interrupting Willow.

"Oh yeah, I'd really love to give you a tour.. of the school.. uh huh." A small fist appeared out of nowhere, well maybe Willows direction, and punched Xander in the arm.

"Hey! Ouch much! You can't hit a man right in front of a .. of a .. lady." **POW** "Hey! Stop that!"

"I'm sorry guys, but I have to head to the principal straight away, but we could meet up during the first break."

"First day at school and already to the principal huh ? You must be a nau.." **POW POW** "Hey stop it already!" Willow rolled her eyes yet again and looked apologetically at Buffy.

"Sorry he's not always like this .. well actually he is but he is totally harmless." "Hey I'm standing right here Willow, could you please.." Xander tried to interject but Willow would have none of it. "..how about we meet you at the big stone bench later? It's hard to miss."

"Yeah sure, sounds great." Waving her goodbye Buffy skipped up the stairs taking two steps at a time. "Damn she's sporty.." **POW** "Cut it out! Oh hey wait.. YOU THERE.. umm .. SPORTY GIRL, WHAT'S YOUR NAME?" Xander yelled after her, causing quite a few heads to turn. Buffy mumbled something quietly and quickly left the scene, not wanting to get any more attention than necessary.

 **POW**

"What was that for?" Xander yelped in an increasingly unmanly voice as he kept getting hit in the same spot.

 **POW POW** "Ugh my hand is starting to hurt.." Willow rubbed her right hand as she watched Buffy flee into the crowd. "That was for being the untouchtasticl.. whatever you said earlier .. guy in the universe."

Scrunching up his face Xander stared at her. "What? Well never mind, what's gotten into you by the way? First you are all Willow like with the blushing and then you start getting all bold asking her out on a tour and all that, and the punching I didn't like the punching at all."

Willow shrugged "S-she just seemed nice and she's new, i-i was just being nice and you totally deserved every little punch. Thanks for that by the way, it was a really good distraction, I don't think I could have talked with her like that if it hadn't been for you acting like you did."

"Aeh.. right .. sure Willow, no problem, you're acting weird today." Xander picked up his skateboard and followed an unwillowy Willow up the stairs.

* * *

 **In front of the principals office**

"This is so unfair." Cordelia grumbled as she stood at the copy machine near the principal's office.

"Yeah right? We didn't do anything to deserve this! It's like slave labor!" Cordelia was about to disagree with the blond girl standing next to her but thought better of it.

 _'We totally deserve this, it wasn't nice what we did to Willow the other day, ugh, why do I keep getting pulled into this.. right Queen Cordelia has to keep her kingdom in check.. and now she's talking about herself in the third person.'_

Cordelia lets out a big sigh that Harmony took as a sign of agreement with her statement. "Let's get this over with quickly so we don't miss our next class and get into even more trouble."

* * *

 **In front of the principals office**

 _'Those two seemed nice. Well the guy was a bit over the top.. maybe he's gay and tries to cover it up?'_ Shrugging to herself Buffy kept following the signs towards the principals office.

 _'The girl was cute tho .. and funny! With the hitting and all.'_ Grinning to herself she recalled the whole scene again. _'Looks like i already found someone to hang out with, this is great..now for the hard part tho.. he is bound to know about what happened at my old school and will probably lecture me for hours.'_

"Ah there you are, you must be Buffy I'm Principal Flutie but you can call me Bob." He extended his hand towards Buffy while a tall brunette rolled her eyes in the background _'Who's that ?'_ Buffy wondered before being led into the office by the weird principal.

* * *

 **In front of the principals office**

"Clean slate..." "..all about here.." "..even if.." "Burned down GYM?!"

"Hey Cor what did he just say ?" "Shh!" Cordelia leaned back against the door, trying to pick up the conversation again. _'So the new girl is a troublemaker huh ? And what's with the name ? Buffy ? That doesn't sound normal.'_

"Hey Cor com on, what did he say ?" "Nothing Harmony, just boring stuff, lets get out of here." _'No need to get her into trouble just yet, but it's always good to have ammunition just in case she wants to stir up trouble with Queen Cordelia.'_ She waggled her eyebrows and grinned proud about herself before realising she talked about herself in third person again.. while babbling to herself .. in her head.

* * *

 **Inside the principals office**

Buffys ears wiggled ever so slightly. Slayerhearing mode activated.

'Oh god, that long legged brunette out there is listening to us, i'm so dead.' Letting out a sigh Buffy concentrated on Bob again.

"Now now, there is no need to give up just yet Buffy, work hard and don't repeat .. that.." he gestured towards the torn up and retaped file in front of him. ".. and everything will be fine." He smiled a rather awkward smiled at her, shook her hand and ushered her out of the door.

'What an odd little man.' Buffy quickly glanced around trying to spot the brunette again and low and behold there she stood in all her glory with a smug grin on her lips as she watched Buffys hopes crumble to dust. Darting for the nearest corridor Buffy fled the scene. Cordelia immediately felt sorry for the blond, she already stopped herself from starting the rumor mill by telling Harmony about Buffy so why did she have to tease her like that? _'Cause it's fun to see her squirm that's for sure'_ Cordelia smirked and followed Buffy who was headed to the same class Cordelia had to take.

* * *

 **History Class**

 _'Aww hell .. you've got to be kidding me'_ After being introduced the teacher told her to sit over there.. over there being the only free seat which happened to be right next to one Cordelia Chase whom Buffy had met earlier.

As Buffy approached she could see the grin on Cordelias face broadening to dangerous levels. _'Aww hell..'_

"Hello there Buffy, I'm Cordelia, nice to meet you .. again" Corderlia kept her eye right at Buffy the whole time, who in turn tried her best not to look directly at Cordelia, rather mumbled something like "Hi." and slumped down next to her. "Now now, no need to be rude Buffy, wouldn't want to get on my cranky side now would you?" she winked at the blond who looked at her in alarm, but the brunette started to pity her a little bit and decided to cut her some slack. "Sorry Buffy, that's just to much fun, i'll behave from now on ok? See i'll even let you look in my book since you obviously forgot to get yours." Mumbling a "Thanks" Buffy scooted over a bit to get a better look at the book.

 _'This is going to be so much fun!'_ Cordelia thought while planing out how she was going to make the little blond squirm.

* * *

 **Stone Bench**

All but fleeing from the classroom Buffy beelined for the stone bench she saw earlier and was glad to see Willow sitting there.. with Xander. _'Oh well, he ist kinda funny if you don't take him serious'_. She plumped down with Willow between her and Xander and was about to start talking with them when Cordelia strolled by and winked playfully at Buffy. Groaning Buffy buried her head in her hands wishing that teleportation or invisibility were slayertraits.

"What the .. what was that?" Xander tried to wiggle around Willow to poke the slayer but Willow blocked his attempts. "Hey cut it out will you, it's obvious that Queen C found a new victim for her sick little games. It's alright .. umm .. s-sporty girl she does that to everyone."

"My name is Buffy." The girl mumbled through a mess of hair, arms and hands before inhaling deeply and sitting up straight. "And yes it seems like she does enjoy stuff like that a little bit to much."

"No no that doesn't make sense, why would she wink at you, i mean wink wink that's like .. you are one of her Cordettes or something. Hey wait a second you are a Cordyspy!" **POW** "Cut it out Xander, if she were a spy why would she act like that .. a-and whats there to spy about? Cordelia was able to pick on us for years now without any help." Willow regretted saying that as soon as it came out of her mouth. _'Now she knows just what kind of geeks we are, well done Rosenburg, way to go.'_

Observing the whole scene Buffy couldn't help bit smile at this silly display. "I'm no Cordette and i'm no spy, Cordelia simply teased me a bit but it could have been a lot worse so i don't think she really means any harm." _'Yeah she could've told everyone about me..'_

"No harm, yeah right she's like harmqueen of the year with all the harming she does." Willow rolled her eye at Xanders outburst. "Well he kinda has a point, Cordelia has a certain reputation to uphold so i were careful if i were y-you, which is a weird thought.. being all sporty and blond and stuff.."

"You're cute when you babble." Buffy smiled at Willow when she said that but quickly got a confused look on her face when she saw the reaction her compliment had on the other occupants of the bench. Willow turned into a human sized strawberry and Xander said "Yeah i know i do." smiling proudly at the compliment.

"Since i'm so cute how about you take me out for coffee later, or em .. maybe i should take you out for coffee being the manly man i am and all." Xander grinned feeling so damn confident because this girl was totally into him.

Meanwhile the strawberry did her best to hide her face and avoid any inappropriate noises .. like a whimper or squeek. Yep a squeak would certainly blow Willows cover and ensure that Xander got wind of what was actually going on, or Buffy for that matter.

"Umm no thanks, i'm not really .. you know .. looking for anyone at the moment. How about friendly coffee thou ? Friendly is good, right Willow?" Buffy tried her best to let the whole thing blow over and prayed the boy would take it in stride.

The strawberry squeaked, which the slayer took as approval and Xander grinned his trademark grin. "Yeah sure, i didn't honestly think i had a chance anyway. You know me always goofing around." He rubbed his head sheepishly. "Well you don't know me.. yet! But hey, you get what i mean?" He chuckled and turned around to shuffle away as smoothly as he could.

"Oh boy.. that was weird." Buffy said half to herself before sitting down next to Willow. "Hey, sorry about that, i couldn't help but notice how you went all quiet and mumbly when i said .. that. I really didn't mean anything by it and i wasn't trying to hit on him at all. You know .. in case you are interested in him, i wouldn't do stuff like that. Possible future boyfriend stealing ist a total no no for me ok?" _'Now lets hope she didn't see that i was talking to her when i said that.'_

 _'Hey! Thats great! Thats a way out of this!'_ Willow mentally high fived her higher brain functions and morphed back into her notstrawberry form. "Umm.. ok y-you had me worried there for a second. But hes not my boyfriend and won't ever be again i guess."

"Again?" The slayer piqued up, interested in what this was about and glad that she got away with saying .. that to Willow.

"Yep, he stole my Barbie and that was a dealbreaker for me, i really like b-barbies LIKED Barbies yeah."

Not really getting what the last part was about Buffy simply asked "Huh?" "We were five.." Willow replied sheepishly "Ohh.." Both started laughing and that was it. Buffy thinking she got away with telling Willow she looked cute and Willow with getting away with acting as if Buffy had said ..that.. to her instead of Xander, which she did but Willow doesn't know that. _'I'm such a dork, of course she said it to Xander'_ Both girls laughed, maybe a little bit too much, but hey they were both happy everything was back to normal again.

A little bit out of sight a broad grin kept getting bigger and slowly swaggered away from the scene she had just witnessed. "Oh so much fun indeed!" whispered a sultry voice to herself.

* * *

Later in

 **Buffys Bedroom:**

'That was one hell of a first day, so much could've gone really wrong .. but it didn't! And i kinda have Cordelia to thank for that, even tho she made me pay for it in her own way. Willow totally misunderstood what i said, which is good and Xander is .. well Xander, he is a total goofball and really most likely gay. The principal didn't seem all to happy when he realized what happened in my old school but that could've gone worse as well. All in all it seems I'm off to a good start. Ugh and the slayerstuff .. i think i'll not dwell on all that, i'd rather only think about the somewhat normal stuff in my life. Giles seemed kinda nice tho.' Nodding to herself and snuggling up to Mr. Gordo, her favorite plush toy, she started to doze off.

 **Willows Bedroom:**

'Oh .. my .. god. Oh my god.. oh my god.. oh ... my.. god...'

 **Xander's** **Bedroom:**

'I shouldn't have told Jesse about the thing with Buffy and Willow, he couldn't stop laughing.. he does have a cute laugh tho.. erm yeah no'.

 **Cordelias Bedroom:**

Maniacal laughter crept out of Cordelias window and into the dark night, whirling as if possessed by a demon.. or a really fiendish head cheerleader.

* * *

OOC clarification and such:

1\. Buffy is gay from the get go but tries to hide it for obvious reasons (people being stupid and shallow that is).

2\. Buffy meant Willow is cute not Xander, I tried to make it clear in the text but I'm not sure how well I translated what I meant to say.

3\. The whole setting seems really playful and i guess ill keep it like that for a while because it's tons of fun writing this silly stuff but please don't be surprised when i start a more serious tone once stuff gets .. well serious. Like someone finding out who's interested in who and such.

4\. I will not write slayer related stuff, or at least ill try to avoid it as best as i can, my stories are focused on the interaction and drama between the main chars because i personally don't really care for 50% of the plot being about some thought up big evil monster thingie that threatens the world.


	2. Payback is a B---ad thing

**Inside the computer room**

Harmony squinted her eyes at the computer screen in front of her trying her best to make sense of all the gibberish before giving up with a frustrated sigh. "Are we going to the Bronze tonight?"

"No, we are going to the other cool place in town." Cordelia almost snorted as she replied to Harmony. "Of course we are going to the Bronze, it's Friday night!" She made sure she raised her voice loud enough for the next part. "BUFFY you should come too, you haven't been to the Bronze yet have you?"

Pretty much all the heads in the room turned to Buffy as Queen C so casually invited her to the best hangout in town. "Umm.. yeah sure, why not." Buffy mumbled, not quite sure what Cordelia was up to now.

"She's so polite Harm.." Cordelia went back to whispering. "..remember she's from LA, she must've been to all those really great clubs and now she's stuck here in Sunnydale. If I were her I'd totally brag about it, but not our little Buffy here."

Harmony looked a bit weird but nodded at all the right places just to make sure. "Yeah sure Cor, she seems .. nice and all but she's hanging out with all those losers. Are you sure it's a good idea to invite her to come with us?"

Flashing her old friend a smile she answered. "As if we have to think about something like that, we are the center of coolness in this school, if we take someone else into our circle they will think of it as an act of mercy, nothing else."

A muffled giggle from nearby made Cordelia's smile disappear in an instant, replacing it with a scowl and narrowed eyes. "What's so funny?!" Quickly scanning the room the head cheerleader found the culprit and narrowed her eyes even more. "My my my, if it isn't little willowy Willow, what's so funny about my observation?"

 _'Time to back paddle quickly!'_ "Um.. i-i.. just read something funny on this website." Pointing to her screen she tried her best to look innocent.

"Right.. since you are such a nerd why don't you tell poor Harmony here how to save her file." Cordelia said, of course she could have told Harm herself but that would mean people found out that she is quite good when it comes to geeky stuff like that. _'And we can't have that now can we..'_

The bell rang and people started getting up, Willow seemed to think about it for a second. "Push the deliver button." Willow said with a confidence that surprised herself before quickly gathering up her stuff and hurrying from the room with a grin on her face.

"Deliver ? .. Deliver .. Deliver .. ah there it is!" Harm exclaimed and hit the del key. All the while Cordelia was about to explode with laughter, but years of practice made her appear totally calm outside. **CLICK** When she saw Harms facial expression change drastically from *being happy that the computer class was done and she saved her program* to *OMG it's all gone!* she just couldn't help herself anymore and burst out in hearty laughter.

"That's not funny!" Harm whined and Cordelia just kept on laughing. _'Who would have thought Willow had it in her ? But what to do now? I could come up with something truly awful to pay her back for this but .. it was only Harm and she totally deserved a put down after everything she had put Willow through over the years.'_ Cordelia stopped her stream of laughter and tried to compose herself again as she patted Harmony on the shoulder as a way of excuse slash comfort. _'Plus if I keep picking on Willow and Xander in front of Buffy it would be really awkward with her.'_

* * *

 **Just outside of the computer room**

"I did it, I finally did it! I stood up to the Cordettes and .. oh god .. oh god oh god i-i .. I'm in so much trouble!" Willow mumbled to herself as she kept hugging her books closer and closer to her chest as the realization of what she just did kept sinking in.

"Trouble? What sort of trouble maybe I can help." Buffy said with a touch of concern in her voice. Willow had been walking right beside her for quite a while now. _'She must have been lost in thought.. then again I guess that happens pretty often with her.'_

"Ahh! B-Buffy hi, where did you come from?" "LA." Buffy replied with a grin and poked Willow playfully in the shoulder. "You should not daydream so much, you're making it too easy for people to pick on you. But anyway what's the trouble? I'm good when it comes to trouble.. or bad .. umm nevermind."

"I-i kinda made Harmony delete her program in computer class." Willow murmured quietly at first before perking up and grinning at Buffy. "It was sooo cool, she did exactly what I thought she would do and .. and .." Willow's face faltered again and was replaced with a mask of panic and despair. "Oh god she is going to skin me life! I just know it! Or sh-she will post kindergarten pictures of me in the cafeteria o-or maybe tell everyone about that thing with the flute?! Oh god oh god." Willow burrowed her face in Buffy's shoulder who in return patted her head and tried to calm the poor redhead down.

"I'm sorry I missed that, I was too busy trying to finish the program myself .. I'm not that good with sciency stuff you know? But at least I know what the del key is all about." Buffy grinned and tried to peel Willow off of her but the redhead kept clinging on. _'Getting a bit awkward right about now..'_ "You really should not worry about it, it was a cool thing you did, maybe now they will back off a bit and leave you alone."

That got a reaction out of the redhead who jumped back from Buffy and started to gesticulate wildly in front of Buffy. "Y-yeah right, and a giant k-killer cats ignore the little mouse who just peed on their nose, that's totally what happens!"

"What?!" Buffy and a sneaky Xander who had just crept up behind Willow exclaimed in unison. Willow jumped back into Buffy's arms and buried her head in her new favorite spot, Buffy's shoulder, all the while mumbling something about "Giant cats" and "Poor little mice".

Slightly confused about the whole touchy feely Willow Buffy tried to explain what happened to Xander who went through a wide array of emotions when he heard what Willow did to Harmony. He made a couple of weird poses to supplement his outburst (including a V for Victory and a the typical L sign on the forehead). Buffy was having a truly hard time dealing with everything. She started to zone out and sound became muted as she tried to think about what was going on. _'This guy seriously needs to calm down a bit and what's up with Willow? Yeah sure she is upset but it's like I'm her new cuddle toy or something, which is not that bad really but I don't want people to talk about stuff like that. It's hard enough to hide who I am without Cuddlewillow here.'_

As she pondered her new life in Sunnydale and her somewhat awkward new friends a well known voice pierced her bubble of silence that up until now had protected her from Xanders rant. "Am i interrupting anything here?" Cordelia asked with an undertone that raised Buffys panic level by quite a few degrees. Willow immediately jumped back from Buffy and tried to look as unfazed as possible.

"Haha no Cordelia it's all good, Willow here was just a bit upset about the .. thing .. she pulled with Harmony. I hope you don't mind that she did." Buffy replied with a somewhat cracked smile. "It must have just slipped out."

"Yes i guess so, some people do have a side to them no one knows about, don't you agree?" Cordelia leered at Buffy who in return gulped a bit and tried to stammer an answer. Cordelia however had pity on the cute blond and made a little wave. "Of course you do, we all have things that we don't want anyone else to see. So don't worry Willow, it's all good, just don't try something like that on me you understand?" As she addressed Willow her smile slipped for a second when she threatened her but as soon as the smile slipped it was back in place again and she linked arms with Buffy to lead her away. "Now Buffy, let's talk about the Bronze tonight."

As the two of them slowly moved away Xander and Willow stood still and were totally flabbergasted about what just happened "D-did she just say it was ok to humiliate one of her Cordettes?" Xander nodded dumbfounded. "And she said people had .. depth.. SHE said that!" They stood there for a while before Willow broke the silence with a dreamy smile on her face. "Hmm Cinnamon.. yes definitely Cinnamon."

"Huh ?!"


	3. Temper Trouble

**A quiet yard**

"So .. about the Bronze, it's pretty much the only cool place here to go to so we really don't have that much of a choice, but it's nice enough and whenever I'm around the DJ plays the music I like so that's a bonus." Cordelia smiled at that, and kept leading Buffy through the yard at a very leisurely pace. "Harmony, Aura and a few others will be coming. I guess your friends will be around too but I'm not sure it's such a good idea to .. umm." Cordelia tipped her chin, pondering how to put this as nice as she could. ".. to mix it up too much right away, right? I mean my girls should get to know you first and not be freaked out by Xander slobbering all over them and Willow staring at her feet all evening."

Looking over at Buffy Cordelia realized that her best might not have been enough and frowned a bit. "I'm sorry, I-i um didn't mean it like that ?" She looked at the petite blond with a somewhat pained expression. "I'm seriously trying but .. old habits and such." She smirked at that.

 _'Why is she so nice all of the sudden?'_ Buffy was about to reply to Cordelia but closed her mouth again not really sure what to say. _'I mean she teased me ever_ since _I got here and now she is just way too friendly. It must be a setup or something like that.'_ She groaned and unlinked her arm from Cordelia's making her stop. "Why are you doing that ?"

"Doing what?" Cordelia blinked. "I'm REALLY trying my best here and I know I can be a bit harsh sometimes but .. ugh.." Before she could go on Buffy held up a hand. "No that's quite alright .. it's just .. why? I mean why are you trying to be so nice?"

"Hehe you dufus, I was just toying with you yesterday, i know that's not a nice thing to do but it was soo great! You should have seen your face when you saw me outside of the principals office! Priceless! I could not help myself but tease you a bit about that and I think that's only fair considering what I could have done." At this Cordelia winked at Buffy. "So you see, I like you, you're not as shallow as the rest of the herd .. and not so .. well you know .. like Xander and Willow."

"Right.. you shouldn't keep bashing those two, especially after saying what you said earlier about everyone having a side they do not want other people to see. At least they are not afraid to show their .. well .. shortcomings as you might put it. I think it's rather cute and in Xander's case somewhat entertaining once you stop taking him serious .. like .. at all."

"Cute, oh yes there was something about cute now wasn't there." Cordelia beamed a smile at Buffy and stalked a bit closer to the blond. Quickly glancing around just in case someone could overhear or see them she leaned in close to Buffy's ear and whispered something. Something that made Buffy's panic level reach near maximum. "I know what you said to Willow yesterday on the bench." Buffy could practically feel the grin in Cordelia's voice as she said that and shuddered as Cordelia breathed on her neck as she o so slowly moved away from Buffy. Back to a .. socially safer distance.

"So you see, I could have done A LOT of damage to you but I didn't, maybe you do not believe me when I say that I like you .. but I do, you will just have to deal with it." Grinning a bit sheepishly she went on. "Well of course you don't .. I would not blackmail a friend now would I? Honestly." Upon seeing Buffy's doubtful stare she held her hands up in surrender. "No seriously, I'm not trying to ... ugh whatever .. just wait and see. I won't tell a soul."

"Scouts honor?"

"What? Umm yeah sure .. I guess."

"Wow that sounded so honest and believable!" The blond rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her.

"Ugh .. but you do right?"

"No.. but I give everyone a chance, something you should try again sometime with Willow and Xander. So I guess ill see you later at the Bronze after Patr.. Pat.. Pettime, right time to spent with the pets .. and all."

"You're weird."

"Don't you know it." Buffy said with a grin and headed off to her next class.

Cordelia stood there for a second or two and thought about everything the blond had said. _'She should cut me some slack, if she knew more about me and what I have been up to the last couple of years she would praise me as mother freakin Teresa for what I have done the last two days.'_ Grumbling to herself she strolled slowly after Buffy. _'Oh well, let's see how tonight will work out, I hope she doesn't go all open minded and caring with the Cordettes. They would totally freak and I can kick any chance of having Buffy as a friend goodbye.'_

'Which .. I want right? Her as a friend. She made a good point.. why do I care so much considering she is such a troublemaker. Burning down a gym? Getting into fights, real fisty fight fights? And then there is the whole hitting on Willow thing. She certainly acted as if I caught her doing something bad so she wasn't just being friendly with the girl. It slipped out and she freaked, well both freaked and Xander...' Cordelia rolled her eyes and kept staring into nothingness as she made her way through the yard. 'He certainly made a fool of himself but that's nothing new. So Buffy is most likely into girls? Or at least .. well .. might be and Willow? I wouldn't have thought of her as .. well .. that and I doubt she really is .. she would blush and fall in love with a camel if the camel said something nice to her. Wow that was odd.. why would a camel .. nevermind.'

"INCOMING!"

'What?! Huh?' Cordelia jerked up from her daydreaming and went wide-eyed as a football made an abrupt descent right in her direction. "Ahh!" Was all Cordelia could get out before a blond flash grabbed her around the waist and pulled her out of harms way.

"NICE CATCH SUMMERS!" yelled the Jock who had thrown the Ball. "Sorry Cor!"

"I-i .. umm.." Cordelia stammered not truly knowing what to say to the girl who just saved her from a broken nose or a an equally disfiguring injury.

"You are welcome, you should stop daydreaming by the way, otherwise someone might start picking on you if you don't." Buffy said and let go of Cordelia's waist.

"Y-yeah .. well ..no! No one would dare!" The tall brunette harrumphed and smoothed out her clothing.

"Right.. see you later and try not to run into any lampposts on the way to the Bronze!"

* * *

 **After sundown, Sunnydale** **Cemetery**

 _'I still don't know what to make of Cordelia, especially why she wants to hang out with me of all people.'_ Buffy mused as she whirled a stake between her fingers. _'Then again it doesn't really matter as long as she keeps her promise and does not tell anyone about me.' Letting out a sigh she strolled around yet another set of gravestones. 'I might have believed her if she hadn't acted like she was blackmailing me, that girl has to take a lesson or two in being friendly without any_ _ulterior motives. I did safe her tho that might count for something.'_

 _"_ GRRR!"

"Aww no, not now it was such a quiet patrol so far and i don't want to get any dust on my outfit you know?"

"Grr.. arr.. what ?!

 **SMACK**

 **POW**

 **POOOF**

"Aha! Go go slayer reflexes, dusted you without even a speck of .. well you .. on me." Grinning proudly Buffy picked up the pace and headed in the direction of the Bronze.

* * *

 **The Bronze**

"So i hit the deliver key and what happened? Everything was GONE! That dumb bitch Willow tricked me!" Harmony huffed and puffed while Cordelia did her best to keep a straight face as they all stood around a table sipping their drinks. "Thats totally unfair of her! You worked so hard on that!" One of the girls said and the rest nodded in sympathy. "Cor what do you think we should do to make her pay for that? Cor? Earth to Cordelia? Would you stop looking around like you lost your puppy?"

"What did you just say?!" Cordelia whirled around and hissed at Harmony. "I was just checking out that dreamy guy over there and you ruined it!" "Sorry Cor, but what about Willow, we should really.." "Ah there she is!" Cordelia interrupted and headed towards a side entrance of the Bronze.

"..do something. Geez what's up with her lately?!" The rest of the girls shrugged or attempted to come up with excuses but Harmony would have none of it and waved them off before heading to the bar.

Looking up and down at Buffy she dragged her to the side before the other girl even managed to squeeze in a hello. "You should not come here dressed like that if you want your secrets to remain a secret." As she said that Cordelia kept scanning the area on the lookout for any of the Cordettes.

"Hello to you too Cordelia, not 2 seconds in and you're already blackmailing me again and because of what? Because you don't like my outfit? Seriously?" Buffy couldn't believe this, she truly should not have come here, at least not without Willow and Xander right beside her. _'At least they would never bitch about my outfit.. i mean what's wrong with it anyway?!'_ Buffy looked down at herself and was a bit startled when a long manicured finger appeared and poked here in the shoulder. **POKE**

"I wasn't blackmailing you before and I'm not blackmailing you now. I'm looking out for you and that's a leather jacket you know! Like half the guys around here wear? And pants?! Seriously Buffy why don't dye your hair blue and wear military boots to compliment this lovely outfit?" The finger kept poking her and it started to really piss off the slayer inside her. **POKE POKE**

"I'll have you know that in LA, you know Los Angeles, this big town with all the cool stuff? In LA this was a killer outfit and my friends totally liked it." Gritting her teeth Buffy stared up to Cordelia who immediately stopped the poking. "And if you want to keep your lovely manicured finger in a comfortable condition you should really stop poking me. Now excuse me i'll try and find my friends, you know people that don't boss you around and stuff." Buffy shouldered Cordelia and went off to look for Willow and Xander which were bound to be around here somewhere.

She heard Cordelia starting to say something but couldn't make out any of it as she hurried off, the loud new song that came on didn't help either. _'What a bitch! I knew it, she's just like those other airheads. Damn Cordettes.'_ She kept looking for a certain redhead as she made her way through a crowd of half drunken people. _'She was just playing with me, like she's been doing since the beginning and this talk we had in the yard was probably just a to make me believe her and get lured into a truly nasty trap, most likely something she planed right here in the Bronze.'_ Still looking around she glanced down at her jacket. _'Oh hell..'_ slipping out of the jacket she folded it up and hid it behind a couch. _'She may have been right about that.. this certainly is not LA and the people here are most likely a bit more .. old school when it comes to stuff like that.'_

Once she was sure the jacket was out of sight she resumed her search, her mood dropping by the second. _'And now she will tell everyone, about the gym, the fights and .. everything.'_ Leashing out Buffy punched a nearby wooden beam.

"Wooha! Slow down there Miss Norris!" Came a voice from behind her. 'Oh great..' Slowly turning around Buffy tried her best to keep a fake smile up. "Hi Xander, i'm just.. there .. there was a fly?"

"Right .. right i always get those nasty buggers with a hefty right hook, they won't drop otherwise!" Xander half grinned half freaked out. "Um.. why are you wearing a mans shirt ?" He tried to point out to change the topic and was about to poke Buffys shoulder to underline what he meant.

"It's a LA thing ok?! It's totally normal to wear a shirt like that.. and and leather jackets .. and by god if I'd dye my hair blue that would not mean anything either you hear me ?!" Buffy balled up her fists as she approached Xander.

"R-right .. right .. don't hurt me! Please?" He quickly backed up as he whimpered his response and covered his face up with his arms. "I-i.. have important friends, h-huge friends.. with bats a-and tattoos, d-don't make me call them."

Letting out a frustrated half grunt half scream Buffy whirled around, headed straight for the place she hid her jacket and stormed out of the Bronze. 'Worst ! Idea ! Ever!'

* * *

Later in

 **Buffys Bedroom**

 _'I shouldn't have worn that outfit, this so is not LA after all, it's Sunnydale land of the shallow people who stand by while their neighbours get eaten up one by one by the denizens of the hellmouth and everyone ignores it but they can't ignore a damn Leather ja..'_ Slowly breathing out she hugged Mr. Gordo closer. _'Calm down Buffy, calm down.. why tho ? Why calm down, everything is ruined! The whole school will gawk at me tomorrow, Cordelia will stand right at the front of the school pointing at me with that damn grin of hers, Willow and Xander won't talk to me because I'm a Chuck Norris Flykiller who likes to scare wimpy guys and mom.. mom will freak out that i screwed up yet another school. Oh god why is my life so fucked up!'_ With her last thought she tossed Mr. Gordo away from her, well tossing is not the best word considering the poor little fellow was accelerated faster than a baseball during a home run strike. He was able to topple quite a few things and bouncing of at least 3 walls before skidding to a halt before Buffy's bed. _'Oh hell..'_

 **Willows Bedroom**

 _'Hmm.. Cinnamon.' Willow grinned to herself before catching herself. 'I should definitely stop thinking about that, it's REALLY inappropriate but .. well .. it smelled nice and her shoulder sure is comfy ..' Willow grinned again and postponed overthinking this to another day._

 **Xanders Bedroom**

 _'I can not tell anyone about that, no way, not even Willow. That was so ... hot! Well no it was scary, i mean really scary but .. she did look kinda hot. Maybe i tell Willow about the hot part, no need to tell her the whole cowering Xander routine, nope no need at all.'_

 **Cordelias Bedroom**

 _'That stupid little dyke, why did she have to go all Arrr with the butch theme?! That totally screwed any chance of my girls accepting her, not that it matters any more considering she will probably never talk with me again after this outburst of hers. She should work on her temper, no wonder she always got into fights at her old school. She looked as if she meant what she said about my finger.'_ Looking down at her long digit she buffed the nail a bit. _'She won't do anything to me once i tell everyone about her secrets tho, thats for sure. She will be broken like little Willow. Yeah broken and shy, doing anything i ask of her because she fears id make her life even worse, hmmm yesss._ ' Cordelias trademark grin crept back up. _'Yes that does sound .. very .. very .. nice. I wonder what i could get away with ?'_ Tipping her chin with a freshly buffed fingernail she pondered the possibilities.

 **Harmonys Bedroom**

 _'I'm so stupid .. i totally shouldn't have trusted that little nerd ... but she never did anything like that before! Hmpf.. i'll have to come up with something very nasty to get back at her, but what?'_ Letting out a sigh Harmony sat back on her bed and kicked off her bunny slippers. _'Cor should have helped me with that, she's just so distracted lately. I wonder if she got a new boyfriend, yeah that must be it! He's probably someone she shouldn't date, maybe even a teacher ?! Oh boy thats juicy.. ill have to ask the girls about it tomorrow!'_


	4. Thats one sick puppy

**In front of the school**

"And then she backed this guy into a corner and threatened him, it was pretty intense." Xander stood before Willow with balled up fists and narrowed eyes in a poor imitation of what Buffy looked like last night and Willow would have none of it.

"Right .. you must have mistaken her for someone else, she's not like that at all."

"How would you know? She has been going here for what now? 3 Days? She could be a serial killer for all we know! They do that all the time, to the outside world they appear perfectly normal and then they SNAP!" Willow rolled her eyes at that and pointed over Xanders shoulder.

"Well then I guess I have to warn you because a certain serial killer is heading right at us." "Eeep!" Was all Xander let out as he hid behind a very amused redhead.

Gritting her teeth Buffy stared straight ahead, ready to take on whatever Cordelia would throw at her. _'So what if she ruins my reputation, not everyone is as shallow as she and her clique of so-called friends. Someone is bound to be nice and open minded around here right? ... right?'_ That's when she spotted a certain redhead and a cowering guy behind her. _'Ugh.. I really don't have the patience to deal with that as well and from the looks of it Xander already spilled the beans. Great .. just great..'_

Altering her path up the stairs of Sunnydale High to avoid her two most likely former friends Buffy spotted the Queen herself, exactly where she imagined her to be. On top of the stairs looking down at everyone with her hands on her hips and grinning like a Cheshire cat from a certain Book. _'Here it comes Buffy, you can do this!'_

"So what is this all about Cor? Are we waiting for Willow to show up and do something nasty to her right in front of everyone or what?" Harmony glanced over at her old friend and hoped for the best. She had tried to come up with something all night but nothing seemed to be good enough. "Nah I think this is about Buffy again, I bet she will invite her to the cheerleading squads!" Aura said, ensuring the rest of the girls burst out in speculation. "No way!" "She just got here!" "She does look fit tho."

'There she comes, all proud and huffed up, she almost looks like she thinks she can endure this, how cute.' Cordelia ignored the bickering that broke out behind her and concentrated on the blond staring straight at her as she made her way up. 'She looks so determined, so indestructible and strong and i can break her with just a few simple words. Her face will come crashing down, her hopes shattered, dropping to the ground sobbing begging me to stop. Oh yessss. Pleading and begging me, looking up at me with those puppy eyes and a-and.. uhh.. umm.. oh fuck!' Cordelia's facade cracked instantly and gave way to a look of confusion and despair.

'Did Cor just moan?' Harmony blinked and looked perplexed at the tall brunette.

Stomping up the stairs Buffy started to slow down. _'What.. just happened there ? One second she was all high and mighty and now she looks like .. well Willow or me for that matter if I weren't so amped up at the moment.'_ Getting closer to the head cheerleader Buffy's nose twitched slightly. Slayer smelling activated. _'And what's that smell?'_

 _'What.. the.. fuck?! I'm such a sick sick puppy, oh god!'_ Cordelia freaked out more by the second. _'I have to get out of here.'_ Looking around in a panic she started to turn away from the approaching Buffy when she noticed the blond sniffing the air. _'The hell?!'_ Stumbling over a perplexed Harmony Cordelia all but ran into the school building.

"Cor ? COR ?! What was that all about?" Turning to the rest of the Cordettes Harmony was about to say something else when another girl interrupted her. "Look at Buffy over there, she looks pretty intense, maybe she was about to beat up Cordelia or something ?!" "No way! Why would she do something like that?" Another girl answered.

"Oh I know, I know!" Harmony said. "Buffy must have found out about the teacher Cordelia is dating and wants to blackmail her." "Wha..?!" "A teacher ? No way!" "What teacher ?".

Ignoring the overly excited group of Cordettes Buffy slowly made her way into the school. _'So I guess no public humiliation for today huh? That was really weird, especially since it wasn't Willow or Xander who pulled something like that but Queen C herself. Oh well looks like I got off easy for now, maybe even for good? Who knows with her, she's one tough cookie to crack when it comes to understanding her.'_

"Hey Buffy wait up!" Came a voice from behind her. 'Oh well might get this over with too, maybe today is my lucky day.' Buffy thought before slowly turning around and being engulfed by a sea of red hair and more arms than there should have been. "That was soo great Buffy!" Willow said as she hugged the blond like there was no tomorrow. "You really scared her off! I mean that's Cordelia we are talking about and she ran away like a roach when the light turns on! Hahaha!"

"I told you she was scary." Came a muffled comment from behind Willow and Buffy grimaced. "Ugh so what ? As long as she's with us its all good right? Plus I don't think she's scary, she is just defending herself! Something we ought to do more Xander." Willow smiled as she pulled away from Buffy to look her in the eyes. "That was amazing! What would you have done if she hadn't budged ? Do you have some nasty rumor about her?"

"Or maybe punch her ?" Came yet another somewhat muted comment from Xander. "Cut it out will you ?" Willow whirled around and raised her little hand, aiming it at Xander's shoulder. "Whats with all the violence around here all of the sudden, Jesus.." Throwing up his hands Xander headed off somewhere else, leaving the two to themselves.

"I think that was the first time he said something remotely serious since I met him.." Buffy said, feeling guilty about the whole thing. "I'm sorry about this mess Willow, i don't know what got into me last night and I wouldn't have hit Cordelia."

"Don't worry about it, he will be fine. He is just jealous that you were able to stand up to Cordelia and in all his years he couldn't. Male ego being broken and all that." Willow smirked. "Just you wait, tomorrow he will come around, grinning sheepishly and joke around as if nothing had happened."

Buffy nodded and followed Willow to their first class together. 'Well that could have gone worse as well, looks like it really is my lucky day.'

* * *

 **In a dark classroom**

 _'This can't be happening! This can't be happening! Ugh!' A hyperventilating Cordelia kept swaying back and forth as she hid in an unused classroom. 'Fuck whats wrong with me! It's all Buffys fault! Right! It was all fine and dandy until she came along with her being from LA and all sporty a-and that leather jacket and those intense eyes a-and strong arms a-and.. oh my.. im so screwed.'_

* * *

 **During history class**

"You must have scared her off good, she even ditched class." Willow grinned over at Buffy who in return simply shrugged and looked at the empty space next to her where Cordelia sat not so long ago and shared a book with the blond. "Yes i guess i did. What do you think is she going to do about that ?" Buffy turned back to Willow and tried her best to avoid any suspicion from the teacher who droned on about something black and yucky.

"I-i don't know, I know Harmony will make me pay f-for what I did but I'm me and you are .. well you! So maybe she will drop it. Oh! How about you scare Harmony too and tell her that I'm under your protection or something like that. That would be great!"

' _Yeah .. great .. me going around bullying people will really work out great with the whole school reputation fiasco I'm trying to avoid.'_ Buffy sighed before answering the redhead. "No I can't do that Willow I'm sorry, I shouldn't even have done that to Cordelia .. or Xander for that matter. I just .. it was a mistake, a slip up ok? I don't make a habit out of intimidating people, not here and not in my old school."

"Xander ?" Looking confused Willow was about to ask Buffy what she meant with Xander when a certain authority figure made short work of their muffled conversation. 'I'll have to ask him what she meant later on.'

* * *

Later in

 **Buffys Bedroom**

"Come on Mr. Gordo you can do it!" Lifting up the poor little fellow from his tiny operating table Buffy scrunched up her nose as she checked out her needlework. "Almost as good as new! You can tell everyone they are battle scars, like mine right?" Buffy grinned as she placed him back on the bed where he belonged. Stowing her sewing kit in a drawer she slipped under the covers and pondered her day. 'I wonder what really got into Cordelia this morning, I mean I know I can look pretty GRRR sometimes and even make Vampires flee from me but Cordelia is .. well .. Cordelia. I never would have thought anything or anyone could scare her, unless she wanted to appear scared to improve her chances with a guy or something.' Shrugging to herself she turned around and switched the light off.

 **Willows Bedroom**

"POW! Take that Harmony. KICK! And that's for you Cordelia. HAHA!" Willow grinned as she imagined Buffy beating up all the girls that ever tormented her.

 **Xanders Backyard**

Lifting up yet another set of weights Xander huffed and puffed as he kept exercising. "I .. really .. have .. to get .. into shape!"

 **Cordelias Bedroom**

There was a soft knock on her door but Cordelia ignored it and buried her head deeper into the pillow, sobbing all the while. "I'm just worried about you dear. It has been quite a while since I've seen you like this." Came the voice of her maid through the door but when no response came from Cordelia she left. Groping around to find another tissue Cordelia cursed as she came up empty. "Great! Just great!".


	5. Drill Sergeant Cordelia

It has been about a week since Cordelias disappearance act and the rumor mill was going wild. Even tho there were a handful of rumors that portrayed Buffy as an evil blackmailing criminal mastermind that was nothing for the blond to worry about, nothing compared to the truth if it ever came out that is. Things with Xander and Willow turned back to normal just like the redhead predicted. On the slayerfront everything has been manageable and so far Buffy and Giles were able to keep it under covers.

 **Inside the library**

"You have a lot of responsibilities as a slayer, I make allowances for your youth of course but .. you enslave yourself to this .. this .. CULT?!" Giles sighed as he looked over to Buffy with a stern expression on his face.

"You don't like the color?" She replied with a pout, holding up two golden pom-poms before looking down at her cheerleading outfit.

"That's not really the point now is it?" Giles said as he polished his glasses. "I just wish you would spend your time with activities that have a bit more .. well .. meaning? Like reading up on the recent threat, I can only do so much reading on my own you know? I do have a job to do and even a little bit of a private life."

Snorting Buffy put away her pom poms before realizing that Giles had been serious. "O-oh i didn't mean it like that, it's totally ok that you have a private life b-but I don't really want to spent mine holed up in the library, that would be suspicious too right? I mean I'm an ex-cheerleader and a very outdoorsy person, being in the library all day with an eccentric Englishmen would raise a lot more suspicion to my person then let's say .. cheerleading? Which is a pretty good workout too by the way, so it's practically slayer training minus the stakes and throwing knives.. plus it's a normal thing to do! And I'm all about being normal right?" _'That should have nailed it, he can't say anything against it now can he?'_ Feeling good about herself she picked up the pom poms again and started bouncing around a bit.

"Pff right.." Mumbled a Cordelia who eyed the two of them suspiciously while hiding behind one of the bookshelves. Her eyes kept darting around trying to find an escape route ever since Buffy walked in here, practically trapping her in place. It had been a very interesting trap so far, but it was high time to get out of here and ponder what had transpired. _'Jumping up and down in front of the school librarian wearing a tight cheerleading uniform is hardly a normal activity. That's what she said right? She wanted to appear like a normal girl? Yeah right ..'_

Buffys ears wiggled slightly. Slayer hearing activated and her eyes instantly became wide as saucers and she tried to get Giles attention that something was very very wrong. "So.. I guess I'll see you at .. u-um .. aunt Frannys house later hmm uncle G-giles?"

"What?" Giles replied as he looked up from polishing his glasses and squinting at Buffy. Picking up that something was quite out of the ordinary he swiftly put on his glasses and looked around. "Y-Yes quite right, don't forget to bring a cake or maybe scones s-she can't get enough of those."

Nodding and avoiding to look in the direction where she had heard the brunette mumble Buffy left the library. "Will do, bye!" She called over her shoulder. _'Phew that was close. Very nice improv on UNCLE Giles part.'_ She giggled quietly to herself as she hurried towards the gym. _'I hope Cordelia bought the act, what was she doing in the library tho? She was gone for like a week and the first place she shows up is somewhere she has hardly ever been seen before according to Willow.'_ "Oh damn!" Buffy exclaimed. _'What about the slayer part? And the stakes and knives.. oh boy.. how can I explain that? Damn damn damn..'_ Punching the nearest locker Buffy's mood dropped again. _'She just got back and instantly found some new to hang me with. Is she stalking me? That would explain her being in the library of all places.'_

Once she was sure Buffy had left and the Englishmen busy with his book Cordelia left her hiding place. Heading for the entrance of the library only to turn around once she got there she announced her presence with a polite cough. "Umm hello? Is someone around? I'm here to pick up .. something .. for Miss Gellar from chem class."

"Oh? Why yes of course.. it should be.. Ah there it is, here you go. You are such a dear, helping out the old lady out like that." Handing a book and some weird looking flask to the cheerleader Giles smiled.

"That's me, girl scout of the year!" Cordelia quipped and Giles smiled even more, totally missing the dripping sarcasm in her voice. "Right, right, well is there something else I can help you with while you are here? Maybe an interesting book? It's never too late to become interested in reading something proper, you know unlike those .. magazines and such." He was about to hand her some dusty old book when she interrupted him. "Umm no thanks, I already read that." And with that she turned around and headed straight for the exit.

"Y-you already read Raksha the Mirror Demon? Who would've thought.." Putting the book back in its place Giles yet again missed the point. Poor guy.. he really should go out more.

* * *

 **The Cantina**

"So Cordelia is back hm? I wonder what she has been up to, there is a lot of rumors going around about that .. among other things." Willow eyed Buffy suspiciously. "You feel like patting a cat by the way? Or maybe strangle a bunny rabbit? No?"

"Ugh.. yes I know about that rumor but it's so silly I can safely ignore it don't you think?" Buffy said while gobbling down her second steak.

"Someone hasn't eaten for a week or two huh?" Xander pointed to Buffy's plate. "Or is that one of those sport diet things? you being all sporty and stuff. Then again isn't that more for brawny guys, you know weightlifters and such."

Grinning sheepishly Buffy wiped her mouth as graceful as she could muster given the circumstance before answering. "Um well I do a lot of different training so i need my protein!"

"Oh right you had your first cheerleading practice this morning right? How did it go?" Willow asked.

"You had cheerleading practice without telling me about it? Damn thats so mean Buffy, you know how much i love .. pom poms." Xander pouted and stole a fry from Buffy who glared at him in return.

"Sure next time ill tell you about it and make sure we got an extra outfit for you. You'll love being one of the girls, maybe you will even get some jocks attention during outdoor practice huh?" Winking at the boy Buffy resumed her meal with gusto to ensure Xander didn't steal anything else.

"Thats not what i meant at all and you know it. Outdoor practice huh? That should be safe to watch, Willow you want to come along next time?"

"I-i don't think thats such a good idea.. a-and i have .. uh .. this paper that's due." Willow did her best to avoid the subject and tried to come up with a new topic but Xander can be like a dog with a bone sometime, especially when it comes to .. pom poms.

"You don't even know when the next session will be! And you could do it there anyway, it's not like you are busy watching like .. u-uh.. some people who are there to appreciate the dedication and hard work those ladies have to put in to move like they do." Xander grinned and mumbled, "Great comeback!" while striking yet another silly pose half hidden under the desk.

Looking panicked Willow turned to Buffy who was to busy chewing down the last part of her meal to be any help. "W-well yes you're right.. i guess.."

"Great it's settled then. We got our inside man informing us about the exact date and location, we got our backup girl who is also there for a convenient cover for .. *drumroll* the main guy! That would be me." He waggled his eyebrows at that. "Who is there to ensure a smooth operation by checking out every .. pom pom there is."

"Inside MAN?"

"Backup girl? That doesn't sound nice .."

* * *

 **A few days later at the Football field**

 _'So far she has not dropped the bomb since her return, i wonder what Cordelia is up to now. Oh speaking of .. t-the .. the .. devil. Damn! Why is she wearing something so .. well friendly on the amount of cloth being used. Part of why i joined this cheerleading squad was that the uniform was pretty.. well .. stuck up and child friendly. It's hard enough as it is being around so many good looking girls without them showing of their goodies.'_

 _"Oh.. hi there .. Buffy, you should stand right there, next to Blue."_ Pointing to a blond closeby Cordelia went on explaining the drill for today, afterwards she made a dramatic pause and waited for everyone too look straight at her. "Before we start i feel like i should discuss something important with you because someone.." She glared in the direction of some of her Cordettes, of whom quite a lot were in the cheerleading squad for some unknown reason. ".. has been spreading rumors about my absence and some other details of my personal life. While i know it is quite normal considering what happened i find it deeply disappointing that you didn't consider to whom it happened .. ME! How could you do that to me?" Cordelia glared at this point she made a show of staring down the most likely candidates of the rumor press.

Squinting his eyes Xander tried his best to lipread but failed miserably. "I think she is scolding them for something. Cordelia is really good at stuff like that.. you know putting people in their place, shes a natural when it comes to that. Not that it's a good thing or whatever but hey better then being the best at puppeteering huh?"

"Pup.. what ?" Willow looked up from doodling something on her notepad, since she had to cover up the fact that she said she was supposed to work on a school project. "What did you just say?"

"Nevermind, go back to your studying of .. Buffy?" He had gotten up and leaned over to peek at Willows notepad with a confused look on his face. "Hey! I-i .. uh.. it's for art class, yes it is a-and we are supposed to draw someone we know .. so.."

"So you thought of Buffy instead of your best friend since kindergarten ? Pff .. I'm deeply hurt, there is only one way you can make up for that! You.. got any jellybellys left ?" Groaning Willow pulled out the item in question and handed the rest of them over to Xander.

"Hey looks like Cordelia is making them do pushups, how weird is that? She should've been a football coach or something. Wow look at Buffy go! Shes awesome!" Xander exclaimed in between popping in one jelly bean after the another. "Yep she most certainly is." Willow added faintly with a dreamy look on her face.

"This is silly! Why do we have to do this?!" Whined one of the girls before becoming the target of Cordelias wrath. "Another 10 for you missy!" Groaning the girl tried her best to keep up with the shore but collapsed shortly afterwards. "Get up will you! If you got the breath to talk behind my back AND talking back at me you got the breath to do another 10!" Whimpering the other girl tried to do another pushup.

Once it was all over most of the girls lay crumpled on the ground, only Buffy and 2 other girls had survived the process without looking like a wrung out waterskin. "See? That wasn't so hard now was it? Ok everyone that FAILED you can go and clean up, you're done for today, the rest gets to do real cheerleading practice and maybe even a Mocha treat afterwards." Not having the strength to do anything but murmur and staring in disbelieve the girls got up and headed for the showers. Meanwhile Buffy started to feel her skin prickle as if danger was close by. _'Uh oh.. either there is a vamp nearby, which is highly unlikely considering the time and place, or this might be another Cordelia trap!'_


	6. Out of Character Addendum (no story)

_**!**_

 **Hello dear reader, this is quick overview of the main chars and their relationship towards one another up to this point. This is not really a spoiler but you might want to skip it anyway in case you are not sure whats going on so far but don't want to ruin the surprise of finding out for yourself.**

 _ **!**_

* * *

 **Buffy-Buffy**

Having survived the first two weeks at her school Buffy feels pretty good about herself. Considering she could have been eaten by vampires or become a social outcast due to all the secrets Cordelia had picked up Buffy has been very lucky and it shows in her mood. The temper tantrums seem to be a thing of the past (for now) mostly because she was able to fix things up with Willow and Xander and the impending doom of being found out has declined to a low point. She still has a pretty hard time dealing with Cordelia and her own orientation .. or rather the hiding thereof. In LA it had been pretty easy since the people were a lot more open minded, but here in Sunnydale she had to watch her every step.

 **Buffy-Cordelia**

Buffy has no clue what to make of Cordelia, the Queen C seems to use any opportunity that presents itself to tease and provoke the blond, but she has yet to do anything to really harm Buffy's socials status or even Buffy's feelings. It's like Buffy was a dear playtoy that one would toss around a bit but always careful enough not to break it or put it into any serious danger. All in all Cordelia might be a nice person underneath all the teasing and makeup but for Buffy there would still be a long way for Cordelia to mature before she would consider anything akin to a friendship with her. No romantic feelings but a slight physical attraction (Cordelia is pretty much the best looking girl around so it's only natural). If Cordelia keeps up the secret keeping (and she has amassed quite a few already) she might turn out to be someone Buffy could talk to, in the end Cordelia would be the only person she has nothing to hide from and thus can speak freely with.

Cordelia on the other hand is pretty much fixated on Buffy ever since the blond appeared. Buffy seems to be the only one worth playing with and it's her new favorite entertainment to come up with ways to tease the blond. She feels a physical attraction towards the blond, which is a big deal for Cordelia since it would freak anyone out who knew about it and it freaks her out that she could even entertain such a notion to begin with. Being the strong willed girl she is this doesn't stop her from pursuing what she wants, and she certainly wants to keep up this game with Buffy. Given the circumstance she would not kiss Buffy (or anything else) thou, something like that is still far down the line (if ever) and a total no go for Cordelia. The whole deal with Buffy is more about the *drumroll* chase and the control of what is going on. Control is THE theme with Queen C by the way even if she still does not totally get what this all implies (more info further down at Cordelia - Cordelia).

 **Buffy-Giles**

All is well between Buffy and her watcher, he helps her cover up any mishaps that might blow her identity as slayer as well as trying to take on the role as some sort of father figure, as seen in the library scene earlier. At this point Buffy is still keeping a lot from him about her and how she feels, so she would not turn to him if something private worried her.

 **Buffy-Sunnydale Population**

Buffy really resents the fact that most people in this town seem to be shallow and narrow-minded, this coupled with the fact that they are able to somehow ignore that they live on top of a hellmouth infuriates the little slayer. Nevertheless she still worries about what these people think of her so she is doing her best to appear normal.

 **Buffy-Schoolmates**

What rings true in the relationship between Buffy and the populous of Sunnydale is even more true when it comes to her schoolmates, esp those she has more contact with. She has yet to find anyone interesting except the other main players in the story and even Willow and Xander are more of a nice distraction then real friends. As before acting normal, hiding her slayer status, personal orientation and behavior is top priority even with her so called friends.

 **Buffy-Willow**

Buffy likes Willow, she is a cute, shy and witty person. The only downsides to Willow is that she doesn't stand up for what she wants and the recent touchy feely stuff. Mostly because Willow goes a little overboard and Buffy fears this might rouse suspicion in the eyes of passersby. True it might be perceived as an innocent friendly expression of friendship, which is often tolerated esp. when it comes to girls (image the outroar if two guys had done what Willow and Buffy did for a sec just to understand what I mean) but Buffy is overly paranoid about people finding out she's gay and thus this poses a problem. Buffy would never tell Willow anything really private.

Willow has a crush on Buffy, that is pretty much the best way to describe it. It is lacking any sexual component however, so Willow has no desire to kiss Buffy or anything like that. It is like a mix of wanting to be Buffy, hero adoration and maybe feeling like someone really cared for her and thus making an effort to pursue them in return. This might change once Willow grows up and starts self-reflecting more but atm that's all there is to it.

 **Buffy-Xander**

Xander is a nice distraction, he is often totally over the top and more than once Buffy felt like either strangling the guy or piercing her eardrums to stop the barrage of words coming out of Xander but in the end even in this state it feels like a part of normality and friendship that Buffy is missing. The little outburst at the Bronze was a rough patch and might have lead to Xander staying away from Buffy if it hadn't been for Willows attachment to Buffy. In the end he ignored Buffys outburst, blamed it on hormones and moved on. Buffy has no interest in anything but friendship and acceptance from Xander, the other way round its more about playful adoration. Xander is attracted to her (yes I made him out to be interested in Jesse earlier on but he is pretty versatile when it comes to that *coughs*) but knows that he has no chance. He thinks it's because of him because he does not know any better and that's ok with him, as long as he can hang out with a good looking girl like that it's all cool in his book. Buffy would never tell Xander anything really private.

 **Cordelia-Willow**

Interestingly enough Willow is a little bit like a proto Buffy. She was the focus of Cordelias attention for quite a while because Queen C enjoyed teasing the poor little redhead. There was never any sexual component however and Willow is by far not as headstrong, confident and all in all more alive as Buffy. So in the end Willow (along with everyone else) was spared the second Buffy showed up and from there on out rarely got into any more trouble or teasing with the brunette.

Willow is intimidated to the core by Cordelia and is still quite far away from let's say starting a conversation with the brunette out of her on volition. Ever since Buffy showed up and the constant put downs and slurs stopped Willow is not sure what to make of the "new" Cordelia, then again she doesn't really care much why and is simply happy about the change. She still thinks of Cordelia as the bitchy cheerleading queen from hell.

 **Cordelia-Xander**

Same as with Willow Xander was a nice early target for Cordelia, esp considering he is a guy who could be frightened and subdued as easily as Willow and he still showered Cordelia with attention. A win win (both for Cordelia =P) Situation so to speak. She does not care for him at all, he simply was a nice distraction in the early days. Nowadays she refrains from making any moves against him to avoid any trouble with the slayer but if Xander would stand up against her in any way she would verbally rip him to shreds.

Xander likes her .. pom poms and is all in all somewhat fascinated by Cordelia, mostly physically. Of course he doesn't like how she treated Willow and him but then again he often got the attention of the best looking and most popular girl in town so its not that bad in his eyes. (Yeah Xander got no spine ..). He would never openly speak against Cordelia in her presence, but likes to talk about her when the cheerleader is not earshot.

 **Cordelia-Cordelia**

Ok this is going to take a while, at this point in the story Cordelia is the most complex (what a shocker right ?) and in my opinion interesting character. Why? Because she used to be the Cordelia we all know from the tv show. Shallow, superficial and other a lot of other not so positive traits come to mind but we never got to hear what she thinks. All we saw was her mask and all she really was up until the beginning of my story was this mask. Now Buffy punched in some cracks and Cordelia starts to look at herself, her true self and it shocks her to the core. She understands that all her life she was trying to control people and what they thought of her, she wanted .. no needed their attention and being the bitchy Queen C was a sure way to get everything she ever dreamed of.

It was not enough for Cordelia however. She was rich, beautiful, lived in a mansion, was adored and/or feared by all her schoolmates but there was nothing else. No sense of purpose, no sense of self. Even what she perceived as sexuality was a lie she kept telling herself until it was something akin to truth. The scene on the stair, where Buffy stomped up to her was the first time Cordelia felt anything close to lust and it scared her shitless. Of course she had dated guys, been kissed, groped and whatnot and she liked it at that point because she was told thats whats normal and the other girls envied her for being such a magnet for jocks. Then there was the attention she got, being pursued and wooed by guys was flattering and she loved it but something was always missing. A Challenge, something real, something confusing, exciting and mind altering. In comes Buffy.. a girl .. someone who may try to hide who she truly is but (at least to Cordelia who is much more keen and observant then most people would believe) doing a lousy job at is. So this proud girl comes along and all Cordelia wants to do is make her cower before her, because that's all she has been doing so far and its fun.. boy is it fun for Cordelia. Especially since this girl has so many secrets, is strong (almighty Zeus strong) and the pretty far from being superficial (even tho she tries her best to appear normal aka boring/shallow).

After the scene at the steppes everything changed and she had to get away from it all. Shutting herself in at the mansion and not doing much beside thinking, crying, screaming and more crying Cordelia started to understand more about herself. She still has a hard time accepting that she feels a physical as well as an emotional connection towards Buffy. The physical part is the hardest because Buffy is .. well .. a girl but the emotional part makes it a bit easier because Cordelia can concentrate on all the positive things she gets out of the chase of one Buffy Summer. First of she can enjoy the game more then she ever could with anyone else because she has someone worthy she is after, then there is the possibility of having a strong friendship with this girl and thus someone she could talk to her about meaningful things.. really talk to, something Cordelia has been waiting for for a long time.

So all in all Cordelia is in the midst of alot of change but she trying her best to balance everything and do what she wants, because for the first time this is something she truly wants. Not because it makes her more popular or desirable but because it is meaningful, dangerous and absolutely interesting.

 **Cordelia-Cordettes**

The relationship between Cordelia and her Cordettes has always been pretty one sided, Cordelia said something everyone agreed, Cordelia liked something everyone agreed and for now thats still the way it goes. There was the slight hiccup when Cordelia left for a week and everyone had their own story about why and felt the need to share it with pretty much everyone but that blew over at the end of the last chapter where Cordelia put everything back in order. One thing that changed is the frustration Cordelia feels about her so called friends. They are simply boring and so damn superficial that she feels like lashing out sometimes but as of now she has done a good job of keeping herself in check,after all this is Cordelia we are talking about here and she is all about control.

There are a few things that might lead to tension later on however.

1\. Harmony feels like Cordelia is not helping her enough with the Willow computer room incident.

2\. The Cordettes start to get a wind of Cordelias fixation on Buffy and the lack of nerd stomping that has been going on lately.

3\. The pushup thing might have been to much for some of the Cordettes and they might start to grow a spine.

 **Willow-Willow**

Even though she should be confused she isn't, well not anymore. At the beginning she was a bit freaked out about the fact that she thought that Buffy might have said "cute" to her, but she believed that Buffy really said it to Xander and she (Willow) wanted Buffy to say it to her. Wow yeah that part is confusing every time i write about it but i hope you get it. Then there was the Cinnamon thing and all the hugging but to Willow it is simple hero adoration and she fancies the idea of being like Buffy and simply looks up to her. She is acting a bit like a love sick puppy but so far i think it has no real sexual component and is simply a crush like attraction. (see above Buffy-Willow). Still she is not really confused about it because its all so innocent and harmless, she simply doesn't overthink the whole situation and enjoys the idea of getting closer to Buffy as a friend with some extra touchy feely stuff that Willow is simply yearning for because let's face it she has been alone for quite some time and when she got the possibility to get touchy feely with Buffy she simply went for it and kept at it.

 **Willow-Xander**

Best Buds, with a one sided crush from Willow on Xander but that is a thing of the past and Willow only kept at it for the fact that she felt that she had to at least try to get closer to anyone. That stopped one hug puppy Buffy showed up however and now she is simply seeing Xander as her best friend.

 **Xander-Xander**

Poor guy.. he has been the punching ball of Cordelia, was always yearning for being in a relationship but never able to get into one (even though he could have with Willow but never saw it) and has hardly any other friends due to his rather awkward kind of humor. He is pretty focused on .. pom poms.. but feels a certain attraction to his friend Jesse. He doesn't yet understand what this means and I'm not going to go down that road any further i think but it shows that there is more to Xander than meets the eye. (He's bi for one thing)

His self esteem is at a pretty low point, even for him, especially after the night at the Bronze where Buffy scared him shitless. He is trying to work on it but so far has not been able to do much about it.


	7. Sit

**A local coffee shop**

 _'This is awfully suspicious.'_ Buffy thought as she nipped at her mocha and tried to look anywhere but Cordelia who was sitting right in front of her. The other girls had something else to do, so they declined Cordelia's offer to join her for a coffee as a reward for being the crème de la crème of the cheerleading squad. Buffy quickly tried to come up with an excuse but one look from Cordelia and a flat out "I know you have nothing on your schedule, come along now." had made it impossible for Buffy to do anything but trot after Cordelia.

Now here she was, alone with Queen C in a otherwise empty coffee shop nipping at a mocha she barely tasted and rather used as an excuse to keep silent while avoiding the gleaming eyes of the slick cat that was sitting in front of her who never left Buffy out of sight. _'Definitely a well thought out trap. How does she do this ?'_

Cordelia was having the time of her life, everything worked out exactly like she planned, the only wildcard had been Buffy herself. She could have categorically refused the brunette and do something else .. but she didn't. One sentence, the right words, the right tone, the right content and the hook sank in. _'I could sit here all day and watch her squirm, she knows what I know about her, she knows what I could do and probably wonders why we are here, trying her best not to get on my bad side to avoid any .. accidents. She would like to know what's going on but is too afraid to ask.'_ Cordelia sighed and took her first nip from her cappuccino before setting it back down and resuming her task of staring at Buffy.

 _'This is getting absolutely creepy, what is wrong with her? And why am I even here? And why did I follow her?! It's not like she could have forced me to come along. Well no not physically but .. what would she have done if I hadn't followed her? Would she have started spilling my secrets over something so mundane? Hmm.. nothing mayor maybe but something small, something to show me I have to behave or she would say more .. damn I'm so screwed.'_ Nervously licking her lip and looking around to find an inspiration how to get out of this mess she made the mistake of looking at Cordelia for a second. _'Uh oh... I-i have never seen anyone looking at me like that, or anyone else for that matter.. it is so damn intense! I really really have to get out of here, but how?!'_

"Everything ok there Buffy? You seem to be a little .. dis-trac-ted." Purred Cordelia with a sugary voice that made Buffy tremble. "We could move over to the couch there if this is to uncomfortable." She pointed at a comfy looking two seat leather couch in a dark corner of the coffee shop and smiled as nonchalantly as she could, which is pretty damn nonchalant in her case.

 _'Hell no! What the .. Jesus .. is she trying to seduce me? Or is this simply a part of her twisted game where she wants to remind me that she knows I'm gay to make me understand she has the power to tell everyone about it whether I want to or not. This is so messed up.'_ Buffy gulped and sluggishly shook her head. "N-no, here is fine." _'At least she is talking now .. the silent stare was absolutely unnerving.'_

 _"Alright then."_ Two little words and that was it, silence was back between them but not any kind of silence, no. It had spikes and thorns, poked inside your mind, made you slowly bleed out your sanity while caressing you with velvety doubt and fears. _'FUCK!_ ' Buffy was about to start shaking, her mind raced trying to come up with any sort of plan to get out of here without upsetting the brunette enough to spill the beans. _'I'm the slayer! I kill things with my bare hands if I have to! I could lift this damn table up with one hand and Cordelia sitting on her chair with other! What.. the.. fuck.. am I doing here?.'_ That did the trick, her temper started to rise. She had once planned to confront Cordelia, consequences be damned and she had come out on top. The left part of her lips o so slightly twitched in a curve that resembled a smile and her muscles tensed. She gracefully put down her mocha, adjusted her outfit, uncrossed her legs and started to stand up.. "Sit." .. and flopped down instantly. 'Oh boy..'

* * *

"Hey is that Buffy over there in the coffee shop?" Willow asked Xander who was in the midst of gulping down a sandwich. "Ymuh lmuoks libne..." gulp "..her." Willow blinked at him, not because she didn't understand, oddly enough she did, but because she was amazed how he could even try to talk with so little mouth around so much sandwich.

"I don't see who she's with, do you? Wait no don't answer, I'd like to stay sandwich free for the time being and I think my dress agrees." She grabbed Xander as a living shield and all but pushed him through the door of the coffee shop so it would appear it was all Xander's fault if they did something wrong. _'Like interrupting Buffy during a date .. now that would be nice.. erm .. bad .. that would be bad.'_ Xander on the other hand tried his best to swallow down the last bits of sandwich stuck in his throat to inform Willow of something that seemed rather important if his hand motions were any indication. "MmuhOR!... CO!mnphrDE!mph..."

"Cordelia!" Willow squeaked as she peeked over Xander's shoulder. The reply came instantly and was ice cold, jagged with loathing and unveiled danger. "Willow."

"Oh, Willow! And Xander! Come here you two, sit down sit down." Buffy all but jumped out of her chair and ushered the two to sit down at the table with Xander to her left and Willow to the right, effectively shielding her from any sideward attacks of the brunette.

"Umpf." Was all Xander said and Willow looked like a trapped mouse with her gaze darting between Buffy and Cordelia trying to figure out what was going on here.

"So what are you two up? Should I get you a coffee? Would be no trouble at all!" Buffy instantly thought she might be able to make a hasty exit once she got enough distance from Cordelia especially with two sacrifices between her and the messed up kitty cat.

"N-no thanks we were just walking by and saw you sitting here." Mumbled Willow. "So your immediate reaction was 'hey let's go in there and interrupt her conversation with Cordelia' hm Willow? How very kind and caring of you." Cordelia was fuming but tried her best to calm down. Small flames leaked out now and then in form of barbs like this one but all considering she was doing an amazing job.

Willow's mouth snapped shut and even though the sandwich was finished with Xander the boy wasn't sure what to reply so he kept silent as well. _'Oh god not again!'_ Was all Buffy could think. _'Now she got them too! No no wait, I'll simply talk with Willow for a bit and try to make her understand that I REALLY want to get out of here without Cordelia getting too suspicious. Yes .. good plan! Freedom here I come!'_

"Oh d-don't say that Cordelia, I'm sure that's not what Willow thought, right Willow?" 'Come on speak damn it!' "R-right right totally not thinking that .. un un .." Shaking her head she slowly started to stand back up. "I think i'll take you up on that coffee Buffy, anyone else wants something?" Murmuring something Buffy shook her head and started chewing her lower lip.

 _'Well this certainly killed the mood, might as well try it again sometime when those two klutzes aren't around to spoil the fun.'_ Cordelia denied the question and started to get up as well. "No thanks, I think I should get going and leave you guys alone. It's not like you want me around anyway right?" Holding up a hand to stop any attempts at denying it, for which she could have waited quite a while, she went on. "Now now, I think that's a safe assumption and I don't blame you for it, I have been horrible these last few years and now its payback time for you guys. Just don't .. make up something, I can endure Buffy hating me for what I have done but being blamed for something that's made up would be too much for me." As she said that she almost looked like she was about to cry which made Buffy's left eye twitch. _'This .. this .. I . ugh..'_

Leaving a bewildered Xander and Willow and a heap of traumatized Buffy behind her Cordelia slowly made her way to the exit. There was no flare in the way she walked, no swagger nothing that normally made up the way Cordelia walked.

"That was weird." Xander stated in a flat tone and Buffy immediately added. "You have no idea!" Before calming down a little again. _'Relax Buffy, relax, you have to keep your cool. Cordelia is gone, now all you have to do is crowd control. Come up with an excuse why you sat with Cordelia.. ok .. ok .. that's doable. Next explain why Cordelia went all weepy, admitted that she has been a bitch all those years and now accepted any hate from Willow and Xander and only wishing for truth in return. ... ... FUCK!'_

"Huh? Why Buffy what did she do that could top that .. that .. whatever that was? Wait no I can't deal with anything worse than what just happened. L-let's start small so I don't faint ok? No go on the fainting please." Despite what she said Willow already looked pretty spooked and about to topple over. Xander on the other hand looked simply curious. "Yes, what's up with the queen? What is she trying to pull here? She kinda implied that we would badmouth her behind her back to .. make her look bad? I mean c'mon? We always do that! But but its always true what we say right Wil?" The redhead nodded. "Yes of course it is, we don't even have to make stuff up about here, there are sooo many stories!" Turning to Buffy she went on. "Like this on time at band camp.."

"Calm down guys, calm down." Buffy held up both hands. "I-i don't know what's going on here either, let's not jump to any conclusions ok. Let me get another drink and we can relax a bit and talk things over. Let me just clear my head first ok?." She went over to the counter and tried to get her breathing in check. _'This is going to take a while..'_

* * *

In the end Buffy was able to convince them that Cordelia invited her and the rest of the squad over for the promised mocha treat but it turned out the others had no time so they ended up here on their own. Then Cordelia started to talk with Buffy and opened up to her, pretty much saying how sorry she was and that she wanted to change and that's when the sandwich pirates invaded. So Buffy bend the truth a little to make it sound believable, however it made Cordelia out to be the victim of the story and Buffy wasn't really comfortable with that considering what truly happened.

* * *

Later in

 **Buffys Bedroom**

'That was intense.. I don't know what I would have done if Willow and Xander hadn't shown up.' Buffy sat on her bed, still in her slayer outfit and stared at her hands. 'This is so messed up. How could she do that? Well i know how, she has this freaking huge sword over my head that can chop down any second... but even when I take a step to the side and ignore the sword she is still able ..' Slowly breathing in and out Buffy balled up her fist in some sort of resemblance that she is in control. _'Get a grip, you have to figure this out and tiptoeing around doesn't work with Cordelia, I will have to rush her head on and make her tell me what she is up to. That .. sounds good .. yes she knows I'm the slayer so I don't have to hold back on that account. I could simply charge at her, lift her up a feet or so and then stare her down! Yes! No wait.. if I lift her up id have to stare her .. ugh .. never mind. Yes yes yes.. that might actually work all I got to do now is find a place where I can interrogate her in private.'_ Finally feeling in control again Buffy smiled and started to pull of her vamp dusted cloth. "This will work, I'm sure of it!" She said to herself .. and truly believed it.

 **Willows Bedroom**

"Pff right, Cordelia the poor girl, everyone misunderstands her, she simply had to torment everyone else around her!" Willow stalked up and down her bedroom as she mumbled to herself. "Oh look at me I'm so rich, and famous and beautiful, please Buffy help me against those traitorous liars who make me out to be such a bad person!" As she did the last part she tried to imitate Cordelia's voice. "What a bitch! The nerve! How can she even try something like that with Buffy? Ugh.."

 **Xanders Bedroom**

'Wait a second, what did Willow mean when she said something about a band camp? I don't recall any band camp.'

 **Blues Bedroom**

'Hmm I wonder why Cordelia gave me 20 bucks earlier to make me leave, that's kinda odd isn't it? Oh well, i guess i will simply ask her tomorrow.'

 **Cordelias Bedroom**

Sighing Cordelia nestled herself into a thick bathrobe. 'What a great day! It was amazing, mind blowing even. I had her so wrapped around my finger I could have made her bark .. well .. maybe not .. but close! It all worked out so smooth and it was so so soooo ugh..' turning to her side Cordelia moaned softly and her hand vanished from sight. 'So soo sssweet.'


	8. Snap, everything turns dark

**The Library**

Hiding behind the entrance door of the library Buffy rehearsed her plan. _'Ok, I made sure to look suspicious while Cordelia could see me and hurried away once we made eye contact. If all goes well she should be curious enough to follow me here. Once she get's in I'll slam the door shut, confront her and .. and.. in the end all I get out of it is the knowledge why she did what she did and some peace and quiet. In_ return _my social life will be non-existent and I have to_ spend _the next school years hunched over while I get verbally beaten up every day. Why am I doing this again? Right .. right .. backbone and all that slayer nonsense._ ' Grumbling Buffy shifted her weight from one foot to the other. _'She should have been here by now, oh_ well, _if she doesn't show up I'll come up with another idea.' Buffy's nose started to twitch slightly._

 _'Ahh here she comes, you might be light on your feet Cordelia but I know your scent by now.'_ The brunette slowly entered the library, her eyes sweeping over the room in search of Buffy and or a hiding place. Once she was far enough inside Buffy closed the door which made the brunette jump around and glare at the slayer.

"Jesus Buffy! What's wrong with you?!" Cordelia snapped, obviously quite spooked by the whole thing. "What is wrong with me?" The blonde approached her. "What is wrong with me Cordelia? Seriously? After yesterday you do not have the right to say anything like that now do you?" Seeing the anger in Buffy's eyes Cordelia lifted her hands in a calming manner while slowly walking backwards. "Now now slayer, no need to get violent."

"You never know when to stop, do you Cordelia? Taunting me with my calling, taunting me even now?" Baring her teeth the blonde closed the last gap between them. The face of the other girl went through a confusing mix of emotions. "Buffy please! I'm not taunting you. Really! Y-you just looked more l-like a slayer then a normal person t-that's why I .."

"So now I'm not even a real person anymore am I?" Buffy almost yelled which made Cordelia's whole body tremble. "NO! Every time you are like this you misunderstand me! Just like in the Bronze! Please calm down and listen to me, I never meant to hurt you a-and I never insulted you!"

"No, I do not want to calm down, what I want is that YOU listen to ME!" **THUD.** Pushing the brunette against a bookcase she pinned her in place. "Ever since I got here you had it in for me, what did I ever do to you?! I know that I'm not normal, not by a long shot, but.." The slayer calmed down at this part and her face took a pained expression. "...but I never did anything wrong! It's just who I am, I can not change THAT! And I can not change my calling as a slayer either! God I have tried, to change! Me ,my destiny, EVERYTHING! .. B-but I can't .. I just .. can't." Tears started to form in Buffy's eyes but the resurfacing anger stopped the flow. "And YOU! You had to keep kicking! Had to keep digging, tearing me up, leaving nothing for me to hide." So far she had kept her arms on either side of Cordelia to stop her from running but now she grabbed her arms and Cordelia's face seem to plead the slayer. For release? For a second to explain? Buffy did not know nor really cared, so she kept up her barrage of anger and pain, the brunette flinching with every assault, openly crying at this point. "P-please! Bu.." Cordelia tried but Buffy grabbed her harder and made her shut up.

"NO!" Glaring at the brunette Buffy's rage made her rapidly loose control, gone was the plan to simply scare the cheerleader a bit and make her talk, gone were all inhibitions, there was only burning fire and the slayer. Buffy's heart raced and ... **SNAP**. Something.. something had snapped. Something close to Buffy, something she held.. some.. something she had held to tight, terribly tight.

A strangled gurgle of pain came up against her, leaving her shocked. She stopped, stopped her hands from clenching tight. **THUD** Something slipped from them.

"C-Cor.." Buffy stuttered and in an instant the slayer was gone, replaced by a shell-shocked girl who stared down at a weeping, heaving mess.

* * *

It was a mess, everything, everyone. The paramedics were on their way. Buffy had hurried back to Cordelia once she had managed to explain where she was and what had happened to the man .. woman? To whoever the hell was on the other side of the phone. The brunette was unconscious by then and Buffy gathered her up in strong arms, doing her best to keep Cordelia's arms stable she made her way to the entrance of the school. She wept bitter tears, her face a mask of pain, sorrow and guilt. Voices started to say something, someone tried to stop her and there was a thud, peopled started yelling louder now. Many feet ran, sirens blared and then .. there was a bed. A plain white bed and Buffy gently laid Cordelia down on it, as if it was the most important and natural thing in the world. Someone grabbed her and she let it happen, it was ok. Cordelia was safe now, resting on the bed. Everything was ok, everything was going to be ok now, everything... .


	9. The Absence of Light

**The stone bench, a few days later**

"Have you heard anything new about either of them?" Willow asked in a low voice, she knew that Xander had not taken it well. Noone had, how could anyone see something like that and be ok afterward. They had witnessed it first hand.

Buffy appearing with Cordelia in her arms. Classmates snickering and already spreading rumors among themselves before realizing something was off, way off. Jesse running towards Buffy, trying to understand what was going on, urging her to talk. Jessy being kicked back, flying through the yard and landing with a sickening thud. Kids screaming, running scared, teachers running towards Buffy. Giles yelling something. Buffy standing in front of the stretcher and lying Cordelia down. Arms grabbing Buffy, dragging her off, yelling in her ears demanding answers. It was a mess.

"Y-yeah, I visited Jesse in the hospital yesterday. He is going to be .. he's going to be ok but he looked horrible." Willow nodded in sympathy and was about to ask about Buffy and Cordelia when she thought better of it. He certainly didn't want to hear anything about the girl that almost killed his friend, on purpose or otherwise and Cordelia? Well Xander may not have cared much for her but he may have been relieved to hear that she was going to be alright, then again it didn't really matter that much at the moment.

Instead she simply hugged Xander and patted his back. Yesterday she had tried to visit Buffy at home but her mom had made it clear that no one was to see her, which was understandable enough. On that day, after the ambulance had taken Cordelia to the hospital Buffy was held down and questioned until it was clear that she was in no condition to answer anything. Shortly afterward she was on her way to the hospital as well, Giles sitting at the feet of her stretcher.

Cordelia was diagnosed with major trauma, two broken forearms, a concussion, and several bruises. Buffy on the other hand was kept under strict watch even tho she had lost consciousness soon after being lifted into the ambulance due to the sheer amount of shock.

Now, a few days later, Buffy had been released into the care of her mother after being thoroughly questions about what had happened. Every time the accident had been brought up however, the blond had shut down and seemed to be either unwilling or simply unable to respond.

Leaning back from the hug Willow looked at the people passing by. It had been a shock to everyone when it had happened, but already everything turned back to normal and with it the rumors and speculation. She was fed up with it all, before the accident she hated it for personal reasons, being the target of it for years. Now it was different, they almost appeared inhuman, at least in the way that they seemed to show no sympathy for anyone involved. To them it simply appeared to be a beefy piece of entertainment and excitement. "It's sickening.." Willow murmured to herself, but Xander must have overheard.

"Huh? What is?" Xander blinked and started to sit up straight, not wanting anyone to see him like this any longer. "Nevermind." The redhead replied and started to get up. "I should get going, I promised to check up on Cordelia."

"Heh.. who would have thought that you'd end up checking up on the Queen of gossip and slander after everything you have been through." Willow stopped and sighed. "Xander.. it's not like I forgive her for what she has done but .. she has been hurt very bad and needed someone to talk to you know? I don't know why she asked me to come to her but I felt I had to.. I mean .. this is serious right? When something like this happens I can't really hold it against her that she was who she was up until recently.. and she sounded so desperate on the phone.."

"Whatever." Xander grunted and stood up as well. "Just make sure you get her to talk about what really happened."

* * *

 **The Hospital**

Willow made her way to Cordelia's room, she wasn't sure what do to about Xander's request. She had tried to bring the topic up every time she visited but Cordelia would not say much about it except that it was an accident and Buffy was not at fault. This of course had relieved the redhead the first time she heard it, not that she had believed any of the rumors that were floating around but she had been pretty worried. It didn't make sense however, if it was an accident why didn't she say exactly what had happened? _'Well maybe she has, but not to me. I'm pretty sure she told the authorities or they would not have let Buffy go home.'_

"Willow.. hi.." Cordelia wriggled herself up a bit on her bed and Willow hurried over to help her out. "Hey careful, let me do that." Helping her up, while avoiding any further pain to the brunette Willow could not help but feel sorry for Cordelia. She looked disheveled and numb due to the painkillers, but that was not the worst part. Glancing at her arms the redhead wondered how long it would take for the cheerleader to function on her own again. As it is she needed help with pretty much everything. _'It has to be such a trauma for her, to be reduced to this, even if it is only temporary, it is going to be temporary right?_ ' She tried to recall whether or not Cordelia or anyone else had brought the topic up in the past but couldn't remember anything. This fueled her pity even further and Cordelia must have noticed it in her face.

"Stop that. I'm going to be ok, I've had worse accidents during cheerleading practice. People don't seem to understand how rough cheerleading can be you know? One slip up and s- s- snap." She had been trying to cheer Willow up but the closer she came to the end of the sentence the more disturbed she appeared, but only for a second, then the mask slipped back in place. "Hmm.. they should tone down the iv drip a bit, I can't even talk properly anymore." She smiled. "Anyway, thanks for coming over, any more of this and I'll die of boredom. So what's going on at school?" Cordelia appeared to be eager, but Willow wasn't fooled by this, she knew the brunette was beating around the bush.

"W-well you know, everything is turning back to normal, except the rumor mill which is pretty much in overload." She glanced at the other girl to check for a reaction to this but went on when nothing came. "W-which i try to stop of course, i try to tell everyone that it has been an accident and that you are ok, and that B-Buffy is not in jail .. b-but they don't want to listen."

"Of course not, the truth is boring isn't it.." Cordelia grumbled and looked at Willow. "You will probably not believe me but I never liked lying about someone.. well in that way at least. I do lie alot but I tried to avoid lying about something just to make someone feel bad. Ugh that must sound weird." Her eyes bored into Willow, making her feel uncomfortable at this sudden shift into personal territory. "I know I ha... I know I can be a bitch and I caused a lot of discomfort but I never enjoyed that, well maybe a little.. I don't know." Her head rolled to the side and she sighed heavily. "Damn, I can't think straight." Shaking her head a bit to clear the fuzz she immediately winced. "Ugh.. I think we have to cut this short but you have to promise me something."

"S-sure what is it? I'll help." Willow responded with genuine honesty.

"Please tell Buffy to come to me once I'm released."

"U-umm I don't think .. I-i.." The redhead stammered, not sure how she could tell Cordelia that she had no way of contacting Buffy at the moment.

"What? You told me she is home right? Was that a lie? I she really in jail or something?" Cordelia got more agitated by the second and was about to push herself up to get closer to Willow, to the truth about what was going on.

"No! Cor.. please lay down, Buffy is ok, she's really at home, don't worry I will talk to her. I promise." At this Cordelia relaxed and leaned her head back. She murmured a timid thank you and fell asleep.

"I promise." Willow repeated half to herself before looking down at Cordelia again. _'She must be in so much pain.'_ A wave of emotion rushed over Willow and she felt her skin prickle, she knew she should feel confused about something but instead an eery calm overcame her. She watched in muted awe as specks of light appeared and swirled all around her before rushing towards Cordelia. Seeping through the casts, rushing over bruised skin and dipping down into the flesh to seek out the bone. Everything danced before her eyes, she could see inside the girl laying before her. See the flesh and bones knit, bruises fade and pain evaporate. Then, in an instant is was all gone and she heard rushed feet and strong hands holding her up. "Oh my.." came an English accent but the girl was already embraced by darkness, blood flowing from her nose.

* * *

 **The Hospital, later that day**

"Do you see the marks here, here and here? It almost looks like a human hand! But certainly the girl in question could not have done this, I'm not even sure it's humanly possible to do something like that. There must be another explanation and we have to find it especially considering what happened today!" The doctor looked over to his college. They were in the midst of discussing this rather disturbing case when a man in tweet coughed politely before handing them a rather peculiar set of documents.

* * *

 **Buffy's Bedroom, two days later**

"Buffy, please get ready, I'm going to drop you off at Cordelia's house like we discussed yesterday." Came the voice of her mom through the closed bedroom door. Nodding to herself, Buffy stood up and ran a shaky hand through her hair. She was not sure what was going to happen today but there was little choice in the matter.

Yesterday her mom had informed her that Cordelia wanted to see her soon and that she better well show up there if she didn't want to stay grounded for the rest of her life. Buffy had felt like protesting but her mother, never the most understanding of women, would hear none of it. "No matter what everyone else might be saying now, I know my daughter the troublemaker! It's you who did this to the poor girl and it is your responsibility to go there and make amends. Why do I even have to tell you this? Every decent person would leap at the chance to rights their wrongs but not you, of course not. What did I do to deserve this? Why are you staring at me? Get back to your room, I'll drive you over there tomorrow."

And that had been that. Now she made her way down the stairs, heading towards the girl that she had almost killed, dreading every second of it.

* * *

 ** _In front of the Chase Mansion_**

"I have an important meeting at the art gallery later on so I will not be able to pick you up, I hope I can trust you with getting straight back home, no delays you understand? " Nodding and slipping out of the car Buffy made her way to the imposing front door. _'Great.. she is really waiting there to see me getting in.'_ Before she could even knock the door swung open and a smile of a lady greeted her with a slight accent. "Ah there you are, Buffy right? Come in, come in! My name is Maria, the house maiden, come along come along. I'll bring you straight up to Cordy." _'Cordy?'_ Buffy wondered for a second but this lively women all but dragged her through the intimidating mansion.

"Here we are and don't worry about straining Cordy to much, she is all better! It's a miracle." Maria made the sign of the cross and smiled at Buffy. "It truly is you know, our little Cordy has been blessed and so have i. I was so worried when.. oh .. nevermind, here I am talking too much again. You should hurry inside, im sure she is already waiting for you. If you need anything simply ring the bell and I will come along."

Opening her mouth Buffy was about to say something but the woman was already off again, leaving the blonde in front of a white door, looking like any other door they had passed on the way here. She stared at the door handle as if it were some kind of demon and started to slowly back away before getting a grip. _'I can't leave now, not because of mom, things can't get any worse with her at the moment, but because of "little Cordy".'_

Buffy had to smile at that, having a hard time picturing a tiny version of Cordelia running through the mansion followed by a certain maid. The smile could not hold on for long however and Buffy's thoughts returned to the task at hand. She had no idea why Cordelia wanted to see her, Buffy had imagined that she would never want to see her again, which would be understandable considering the true circumstances. But that was Queen C alright, no one truly seemed to understand her. Something flashed before Buffy's eyes and she felt dizzy for a moment, out of the blue voices came shouting. A heart was thudding. Musty old tomes.

 ** _"NO! Every time you are like this you misunderstand me! Just like in the Bronze! Please calm down and listen to me, I never meant to hurt you a-and I never insulted you!" ... " I do not want to calm down, what I want is that YOU listen to ME!" ... "P-please! Bu.." Cordelia tried_** ** _but Buffy grabbed her harder and made her shut up. ... SNAP. Something.. something had snapped. Something close to Buffy, something she held.. some.. something she had held to tight, terribly tight._**

"Buffy?" A concerned voice brought her back to the here and now and hazel eyes made her freeze on the spot. "You should come in, I don't want to talk to my parents if they happen to wander by." Nodding the blonde followed Cordelia into a spacious room that was so unlike the Cordelia she knew that Buffy almost forgot what had just happened.

"I know, it's certainly not what one would inspect from Queen Cordelia right?" There was a slight accusation in her tone but Buffy didn't seem to mind, to tell the truth she had expected all-out hostility from the brunette not .. this. "That is part of why I asked you to come, I wasn't sure if you'd visit me on your own after.. what happened."

Buffy's started to shiver, flashes of what she had seen just seconds ago came and went as she tried to calm herself. "It's ok Buffy, come here." And that's when she saw Cordelia's arms, her bare arms, without a scratch or bruise, without casts and she started to cry. Tears of joy, tears of relief, tears of regret and sorrow. Everything came rushing out and she stumbled, only to be caught by someone who should not even be able to stand up on their own. "Shhh it's ok, I'm here."


	10. Broken Mirrors

**Cordelia's Room**

She woke with a sigh, bathed in golden light and surrounded by sweet smelling softness, like waking up only to realize that the dream had follow you through. Thoroughly enjoying the sensation Buffy did her best to ignore the truth of the waking world and all the problems and tribulations that would come along with it.

"Hey.." Came a soft voice, very close to her ear. "I know you are awake.. I-i really need to talk to you.." The voice hesitated a bit and arms began to hold Buffy slightly closer than before. "Please don't get up. Please Buffy." Flashes came back, a pleading Cordelia, an enraged Slayer and all Buffy could do was nod slightly to make the other girl understand that she was not going anywhere.

Something snuggled closer, arms loosening a bit but still firmly attached to the blond. "Good. Do you even realize how hard it is to have a proper conversation with you Summers?" Buffy felt a grin forming on her shoulder. "You know I have tried but there was always .. you could never see past my mask, past yours. You may not realize it but to me it seems like all your life is about is keeping that mask in place, just like mine was but for very different reasons." The grin left her shoulder and Buffy felt a body shift behind her. "Ok, maybe we should not go about it this way. How about you tell me what led to .. umm .. the accident and then I try to m-make you understand my side of it?"

Buffy drew a shuddered breath, she was not sure what was going on, like at all, but one thing was for certain. Cordelia was alright and somehow instead of throwing furniture at Buffy the brunette had catched the Slayers tumble, both physically and emotionally . 'Why is she doing this? She is .. so calm and understanding, as if nothing had happened, as if.. as if it may have had to happen to lead up to this point. And all for what? To talk?' Trying to turn around Buffy was stopped. "No, I don't think that's a good idea just yet. It makes it easier to talk doesn't it? Not seeing the other? At least to me it does." The blonde resumed her position, lying on the side with Cordelia nestled firmly behind her on a queen sized bed facing a massive window with warm afternoon light flooding in.

"A-alright, well .. ever since I got here you have been teasing me, first about the fact you found out about my old school. Then t-the.. other thing." At this point Buffy started to blush, which was a bit odd considering she already had more than enough reason to feel embarrassed when she woke up in the arms of the head cheerleader after having fainted earlier on. Nevertheless the thought of mentioning that .. other thing.. to Cordelia while she was so close send her over the edge and resulted in a faint blush creeping its way over the blonde. Her voice sped up a bit, to get some distance between herself and the last sentence. "A-and there was the blackmailing, first in the yard then later at the Bronze. I couldn't .. no .. I still can't understand why you had to do that? Forcing me into something akin to a friendship and then freaking out about my wardrobe, threatening to spill my secrets just because of that stupid leather jacket?." Buffy drew in another ragged breath. "It got to me, hard, I was so scared and on edge. Everywhere I looked I saw your eyes, looking at me, staring at me, knowing more and more about me that I don't want anyone to know. It started to become too much, for me, f-for it... t-the Slayer in me you know?" Curling up a bit at the mentioning of the Slayer Buffy felt Cordelia following her movement, not letting her body leave hers.

"So I tried to confront you, on the stairs remember? But you ran, you left for a week and everyone including me was puzzled by this. I hoped this .. game would finally end and.." As the last words left her mouth she heard a muffled whimper from behind her and tears seeping into her hair. She was about to stop and attempt to turn around when the other girl told her to go on.

".. then you came back, right into the library where you found out about the Slayer and Giles.. and it started all over again b-but this time it was different. That day in the coffee shop, I-i could not even speak to you, I was intimidated by your presence. Me! I run around killing vampires, demons and monsters and there I was s-scared of you and what you implied, what you were capable of. So I-i .. it .. raised its head again and I came up with a p-plan... I-i w-was g-going to.." With every word it became harder for Buffy to speak, because every word led her closer to what had happened.

"Shhh, shhh, I'm alright you see?" The unscathed arms that had been wrapped around Buffy's waist all this time sneaked into view and the blonde started to cry again, reaching softly for them, trailing feathery touches over the spots where she had.. held her. "It's alright, it's going to be alright." Cordelia kept repeating, holding Buffy close again as she gently kissed Buffy's head from behind.

They stayed like that for quite a while, simply letting the pain bleed out of them, washed away by the sun and a different kind of silence came over them. Not the tension-filled silence of the coffee shop but a serene kind, one that neither girl had known before. It was Cordelia who broke it, softly but firmly. "It is all my fault." She said in a coarse voice. "I should have seen what happened to you, should have seen that I went to far b-but you have to understand why Buffy, please, I never meant for this to happen. It was all so much, so fast, even tho I had over a week to come to terms with what I felt, I could not deal with it. All I knew was that it had to go on, t-the game as you called it, b-but it's so much more than that Buffy. It's weird, and complicated, oh god it is complicated, b-but I would have never told anyone about you, you have to believe me! A-and I never wanted to hurt you.. o-or provoke you into h-hurting me." Cordelia started crying again, but quickly kept it in check.

"I needed it, I n-needed to know more about you, that way you could not ignore me, c-could not deny me. I had to h-have you in my grip, all of you, for me. I-it's messed up I know, I-i'm sorry, b-but you don't understand how much this means to me, how much you made me change, made me look at myself and my life. Everything fell apart, nothing was worth anything anymore.. b-but you." Cordelia's nails started to slowly dig into Buffy and the blonde could hear the breathing become erratic. "P-Please! L-listen to me, l-let me explain, y-you have to understand. I c-can n-not lose this because of your not understanding. You are all I have left, you.. y-you are all I am! You see?! That's why you are here, w-why I don't care about what y-you did to me." The nails dug in, the arms wrapped tighter to keep Buffy right where she was. "I w-was not scared when you g-got here, I didn't c-care what you would do to me, w-what it might do to me once I angered i-it again by mistake." Cordelia was hyperventilating at this point and Buffy started to get concerned, not only by what the brunette was saying, which was more than Buffy could handle at the moment, but because of the way Cordelia was acting. It felt like she was breaking apart, and only the contact to Buffy kept her in place, a contact that had moved from comfort and light touches to scraping nails and a grip that might have hurt if not for her slayer status.

"I-i can't l-loose this, please, I-i.." Cordelias breathing spiked and she was no longer getting out more then a word or two before dragging in another breath. "P-please! B.. Buffy! Y-you have to under.. u-understand!" Nails dugged deeper, pricks of blood started to appear but Buffy ignored it, she slowly turned around in Cordelia's arms, which was harder than she had expected. When their eyes locked and Cordelia could see the concern and confusion in Buffy's eyes she started to laugh and cry even harder. She buried her head in Buffy's shoulder and kept laughing and crying. "It's ok, I'm here, you got me, it's alright." Cordelia could not stop laughing and crying, she kept her arms around Buffy but the desperation that had drawn blood earlier was no longer there. Buffy rocked the brunette slowly back and forth to calm her down and in the end Cordelia went silent and started to slouch down in her arms. Carefully laying her down on her back, Buffy observed Cordelia as she slept. She didn't understand half of what the other girl had said but she knew that if she had not played along Cordelia would have lost it.

Even in her sleep Cordelia's arms clung to Buffy and she lay down beside her, staring at this person whom she had thought of as an evil manipulating bitch but now knew better. _'Well not that much.'_ Buffy mused _'But that's ok, first she has to get better again and I will be there for her, it's the least I can do. It is all so messed up tho, how can she forgive me for what I have done and what did she mean when she said I was all she had left. C-could she hurt herself if I say or do something wrong? And what happened to her arms?'_ As she pondered this and many more her head got heavier and heavier and she slowly drifted off to sleep again.

* * *

 **The Summers Residence**

".. not here at the moment, leave a Message after the beep. ... ... **BEEP** "

"Hello Miss Summers, this is the Maria speaking, I'm Cordelia's maid. The girls have talked for quite a while and it looks like they fell asleep, I think it would be best if Buffy stayed for the night.. they seemed pretty distraught. Unless I hear back from you I will start preparing supper for the girls and we will get in touch again tomorrow morning. ... ... I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds but.. I truly believe it would be in the best interest of both of them if she stayed here for a while, maybe even for a few days? From what I gathered Buffy would like to help Cordelia in this hard time and I think it is a sweet gesture, poor Cordy can't even get up on her own and she could certainly use the company. I thin..."

 **BEEP BEEP BEEEP**

 **CLICK** "Hello this is the residence of Joyce and .. BUFFY! .. Summers, we are not here at the moment, leave a message after the beep. ... ... **BEEP.**

"Umm.. yes .. it's me again, Maria, I'm sorry I tend to ramble a bit. I hope I did not forgot to say anything important. Feel free to call the displayed number any time so we can talk about this, I'm always on duty. Have a good day.. ciao." **CLICK**

...

...

...

 **CLICK** "Hello this is the residence of Joyce and .. BUFFY! .. Summers, we are not here at the moment, leave a message after the beep. ... ... **BEEP.**

"Good Afternoon, this is Mr. Giles, the school's librarian. I'm reluctant to call about this but the Book Buffy borrowed.. the one about the lady in red.. its overdue by quite a margin already and it is very urgent that I get it back. I need it for.. an important research paper I'm working on, please make sure Buffy gets this message and comes over as soon as possible.


	11. Bumptious Buffy

**A dimly lit Bedroom**

There was the patter of light feet and a faint rustling of cloth, that's all it took for Buffy's eyes to snap open and narrow in on the source of the sound. Someone squeaked and there was a faint rattle of porcelain. "I-i'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude.. but Cordy has not been eating well these days and I thought I'd bring something up to remind her." Maria said with barely a whisper while pointing at the two plates on a tray.

Buffy was not calmed down by this in the least, if it had been a demon or vampire she could have dealt with it.. but this? This was not good, not good at all. She started to rise to protest, to explain, to argue but before she got further than an inch or two Cordelia mumbled something in her sleep and held on to the blonde. "Please.. Buf..."

"I-i'll let myself out now, I already took the liberty of calling your mother that you will be staying the night. So that's nothing to worry about, we can talk in the morning." Maria made a hasty retreat, not wanting to intrude any further.

 _'Shit.'_ Buffy looked down at Cordelia and recalled what had happened so far. _'This is not getting any less complicated anytime soon is it?'_ Glancing in the direction of the door she wondered what the maid thought about the whole thing. _'I highly doubt that it's a regular occurrence for her to find Cordelia in bed with another girl. Then again I should stop thinking like everyone knows about me, no one does.. except her.'_ Looking down at Cordelia she had to smile at the innocent and serene expression that was on her face. ' _We were just two girlfriends, who spent the day talking and arguing and then fell asleep, that's all. Yes.. yes that sounds believable, especially since it's partially true. Except the intense hugging maybe and the nails.. a-and what Cordelia had said.. a-and then again what she had said.. and boy did she say a lot that would make the story about two girlfriends talking sound totally off base.'_

 _'And what was that about my mom? The maid called her and she agreed to let me stay over? Well at least that is one less thing to worry about, except its odd that mom would allow something like that considering I have been locked in my room ever since my release from the hospital.'_ Shrugging she looked down again, it seemed like Cordelia was about to wake up. Stretching a bit and crawling up on Buffy while doing so she opened her eyes and grinned sheepishly. "Umm.. sorry about that." She quickly backed off of Buffy and the blonde was not sure if she had meant the touchy feely stuff waking up part or the whole mental breakdown theme that had been going on today.

"No problem, you were sleeping and I seem to be a good teddy bear surrogate lately." Buffy fully set up as well, feeling the kinks of the awkward position she had been in up until now. Sitting across from each other now Buffy could see Cordelia smirk in the dim light. "Ah yes, I think Willow can attest to that."

 _'And she's back. Seriously?_ ' Buffy gaped at her in a mixture of stunned disbelieve and confusion. Bending forward until she was on all four and slowly crawling close to Buffy she said. "Gotcha!"

"Why?.. what? .. you!" and Buffy pounced on her, tickling her for all its worth. "I can't believe you did that!" Trying her best to avoid the tickling hands Cordelia could not help but keep laughing. "Y-you should have seen your face! HAhahaha, that was perfect, hahaha." Narrowing her eyes she pinned the brunette to the bed intent on finishing her with a tickle of doom when she locked eyes with her.

The smile faded, both smiles faded, the laughter stopped, neither moved and the silence was back. Buffy had Cordelia's arms pinned on either side of her head, planning to capture both arms with one hand afterward for easier tickle access but now it was something different altogether. It was a mockery. Buffy stared at her hands holding Cordelia, holding her tightly in place.. like .. before.. and she freaked. "I-i'm sorry, I didn't.. I-i.." She immediately let go of the arms and slumped back, away from the other girl.

"Buffy wait! This can't be happening." She said in a frustrated growl. "It was just playful banter, I doesn't mean anything. I don't want it to be weird like this every time from now on out."

"How?! I mean Jesus Cordelia." Running a hand through her hair she tried to find the right words, not wanting to upset the girl too much. _'I have to get off this bed, we had our heart to heart, we talked, we got_ weepy _and helped each other calm down, now it's time to move on and act normal again. Yeah right.. HOW does she expect anything to be normal again?! Fuck.._ ' Buffy got of the bed and stumbled over her shoes, she must've slipped out of them sometime during.. everything. Toppling over she found nothing to get a hold of so she used the momentum to do a quick back handspring, landing softly only a few inch behind where she had started and still looking in the direction of Cordelia.

"Neat.. no wonder you were able to survive the grinder during cheerleading practice." Cordelia smiled at her, an open honest smile with no subterfuge, no hidden meaning and Buffy immediately smiled back. "Well yes.. that was pretty easy, it's more about hiding what I can really do because it would freak everyone out .." Intrigued Cordelia flipped on a light switch next to the bed, she wanted to see the slayer in all her glory not only dimly lit by the fading sunlight. "Is that so? Please show me something like that." Her eyes sparkled as she asked Buffy.

'She looks so innocent, like a child wishing for the magician to show her another trick.' Nodding partly to herself and to the other girl she bend down, crouched and sprang up into the air. She flipped around midair and grabbed hold of a fancy girder that made up the modern looking ceiling of Cordelia's room. Hanging there face down, she smiled at Cordelia, pressed her feet into two nearby girders and crossed her arms in front of her. "Tada!"

The brunette gasped in awe. "That's.. that's amazing! Why did you even start cheerleading when you can do stuff like that?" Buffy held up an upside down finger, untangled herself from the ceiling and dropped down with hardly a sound. "Because if I did something like that people would start looking for a tranquilizer gun to put me down and cart me off to the nearest laboratory." She said that lightheartedly but it was obvious that that's exactly what she thought would happen if the truth about her came out.

"I wouldn't." Cordelia said instantly, looking straight at her. "Then again being able to put down such a feisty prey does sound kind of appealing to me, i still would not cart you of to a laboratory tho." She added with a grin.

"Is that so? That's .. comforting.. I guess." Buffy said as she dusted off her hands. "At least around you I no longer have to hide anything hm?" The brunette nodded and Buffy headed over to the tray Maria had left behind. "I hope you don't mind but I'm starving, that's one thing you might not know about me but I have a rather huge appetite. Giles said it has something to do with my rapid metabolism. I'll try my best not to gross you out or anything, I almost blew my cover the other day during lunch with Willow and Xander."

"No, sure, go ahead I don't mind, I'm not really hungry anyway." Came the reply and something clicked in Buffy as she heard it. She deftly picked up the plates in one arm looking around the room for a place to sit down and eat. There was a huge desk but that seemed to have been built with only one person in mind and it was littered with sketches, notes and a plethora of other interesting tidbits. There was a low desk for magazines and the like, and that was pretty much it as far as a place to eat went.. except the bed of course. Which looked simply perfect to sit down in front of each other with the plates either on their lap or before them and eating while talking about this or that.

Cordelia saw what the slayer had intended to do and the following hesitation about how to proceed. "You can come back here with that you know? I don't bite.." She said as sternly as she could muster and it must have worked because the blonde turned her way and went on to put the plates down in front of Cordelia. "..much." Was added with a slick grin that made Buffy laugh. "You just can't stop that can you?" Buffy replied before sitting down in front of her and digging into the food and making the brunette eat something as well. "No.. no I can't." whispered Cordelia with a melancholic smile.

* * *

By the time they were done the sun had fully vanished, same as every speck of food that had been on both of the plates. "I could really go for seconds but I feel silly asking your maid to bring us any more." Buffy gestured towards the bell. "It looks so demeaning, I mean here we are in a mansion, having already eaten, laying back on a silky bed and then we grab this tiny silver bell and ask a stranger to make us a sandwich!" Shaking her head, she looked helplessly at Cordelia.

"First of Maria is no stranger to me, she has been around almost my whole life and second of all what would you rather do? Sneak down into the kitchen and bump into Mr. Chase, the devils lawyer and have a nice chat with him about how he ruined the latest orphanage with a lawsuit .. oh! .. or maybe into Ms. Chase, the CEO who gets a kick out of buying little companies, firing all the unwanted personal and reselling it to the highest bidder? That's always nice conversation while eating a sandwich isn't it?"

"The bell it is.." Buffy mumbled and reached for it but stopped midway. "I'm sorry i can't do that, she looks like a lovely lady, i can't have her do all this work and zig zag around the mansion just because I'm hungry."

Queen C rolled her eyes, grabbed the tiny bell and made a quick sharp movement before putting it back down. "She does not mind, believe me there are worse people to work for then me. I like her and respect her, she has always been kind to me and I know she loves to help out any way she can. Plus it's her job after all, would be a bit weird if she sat around here all day long and then held up her hand at the end of the month and demanded money hm?"

Buffy was looking a bit confused at that but guessed it was simply normal for Cordelia to live like that. As long as Maria was ok with it and she was treated well maybe it was ok? _'It still feels weird. I don't think I like it no matter how she rationalizes it.'_

There was a soft knock on the door and after Cordelia had said "Enter." Maria peeked in and smiled at them. "Ah, good to see you two up and about again, you seemed so exhausted earlier! And my my you even ate all the food, great!" She squinted at Buffy. "Did you eat it all by yourself or did the that bundle of sticks over there eat some as well." She nodded in Cordelia's direction.

"I'm sitting right here Maria, do you mind?" Cordelia huffed but was ignored as the other two kept their conversation going. "Nah, I was able to make her eat a few pieces, she is somewhat of a picky eater tho isn't she?" Buffy replied and the elder woman made a little wave. "You don't know the half of it, when Cordy was little she would.." "Maria!" Grinning the maid in question stopped her teasing, picked up the empty plates and gathered everything else. "Was there something else you wanted?" She asked with a smile.

Cordelia looked over to Buffy who was fidgeting a bit. Seeing that the blond was going to be a wuss about it she asked Maria for another sandwich, quickly altering the order to two when she saw the blond discreetly lifting up two fingers. The maid nodded and quickly left the room.

"Having fun are we?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow in Buffy's direction. "Hehe yep, she is fun to be around, as i said she seems like a really lovely person which makes the whole thing harder you know? Ugh no you don't. Nevermind it's ok, I'm just not used to it i guess."

"Maybe you simply rather serve people then be served." Cordelia mentioned with a smug grin on her lips, picturing Buffy in a maid's costume before quickly blinking the fantasy away and licking her lips. Turning crimson in an instant Buffy let out a frustrated sound. "We honestly have to talk about this soon Cordelia, I have no idea what's going on and what all this means ok? Like what you expects of me and what you think is going on.. well .. here .. between us."

"No.. we don't, I already told you everything there is to know.. even tho i did not plan for it to come out the way it did .. but .. ugh .. what's done is done right ? Please just let everything i said sink in, try to understand what I could have meant but do not overthink it! I do not expect anything from you except maybe acceptance of my weird behaviour and in return you can sleep easy in the knowledge that I would never do anything to jeopardize your secrets or social position or whatever."

"Well.. that's .. good .. but.. what about the flirting.. and the t-touching and everything earlier. I'm really confused about that part cause .. well you know.. I'm ..."

"God Buffy! You can say it out loud you know! It's not contagious or will burn down anything." Grumbling the brunette picked at her clothing, trying to smooth out all the wrinkles from today's naps. "And I'm not flirting, well not really, you do not have to worry about that. It's just nice .. and personal, and I like being so close to you in that way. Like I get under your skin? That makes me feel close to you as a person, someone I could talk to, someone that could confide in me. It makes me feel safe." Shrugging Cordelia looked back up from her cloth picking. "I still haven't figured it all out, this .. this .. whatever this new me is all about. I do know tho that my whole life had been a sham and I'm seeing everything for the first time now, experiencing everything as if it were the first time and I don't want that spoiled by any second guessing or needless drama alright? If you don't like something I do just tell me, ill tune it down and that's that, no harm done."

"Right.." Buffy said, but clearly not that much wiser than before. "So you'r not .. um .. like .. in love with me or anything." At that the brunette bursted out in laughter before holding up her hand and making a show of calming down. "You're cute when you babble." she said with a straight face before cracking up in laughter again. Realizing Cordelia had quoted her the day she said the same thing to a flabbergasted Willow Buffy narrowed her eyes and got ready to pounce the other girl with another tickle attack.


	12. Groundrules

**The next morning, A guest room in the Chase Mansion**

There was a soft knock on the door and Buffy blinked the sleep out of her eyes. Looking around in a haze she recalled the room Cordelia had showed her last night. "Hey, you up yet? Feeling hungry?" Her stomach almost growled an answer for her so she quickly stood up.

"Yeah sure, let me get dressed and I will be right .. right out.. Cordelia? Where is my stuff?"

"Your stuff?"

"You know, as in pants, shirt.. STUFF! You know?!"

"Oh i may have put them on the laundry heap, they were pretty yucky you know? Maria will have them all cleaned up in a few hours. Don't you like what I picked out for you?" Came the innocent reply.

Looking down at the neatly folded outfit on the chair next to the bed Buffy gritted her teeth. _'What? She really believes I'll let her dress me up now? Hrmpf.. ... these look kinda nice .. Hey wait a minute.'_ Holding up each piece she started to laugh. It looked like the outfit she had worn to the Bronze when she was supposed to meet Cordelia and the Cordettes, leather jacket and all.

* * *

 **The Kitchen**

"I thought we wanted to avoid this place." Buffy said as they made their way into the kitchen. "Nah, only when my parents are around and since they never miss a workday we should be safe for at least a couple of hours." Stifling a yawn Cordelia checked the clock. _'Already 2pm, maybe not that many hours then..'_

After the second ticklefest the two of them had spent a few more hours talking till the sun started to get back up and Cordelia showed her a guestroom she could sleep in. Only a few hours later Cordelia had woken up and went on a shopping spree which resulted in a lot of patrol friendly apparel she might need some day and a certain outfit for the slayer.

"What about Maria? Are you picky about your breakfast or why don't you ring that fancy bell of yours to have her bring you something." Buffy murmured as she started to scan the fridge, barely keeping herself from drooling.

Cordelia rolled her eyes and started to cut up some strawberries. "I'll have you know that normally I come down here in the morning to have breakfast with the lowly maid. The outrage!" She went on preparing her granola as she watched the slayer raid the fridge.

"Are you sure I can pick whatever I want? I don't want to upset Maria by taking something she needs for dinner."

"We rarely eat together in this house, everyone is either at school, at work or out doing something else. And even if she could always scrounge something together, so knock yourself out." Noticing a piece of paper on the counter Cordelia picked it up. "Oh hey Buffy, your mother called. Looks like she agreed with you .. staying here for a couple of days? to help .. hehe .. you will love this part..." She paused to clear her throat and attempted to sound like a strict mom. "To support this poor girl, you better do anything she says.. or else!"

Dropping half a chicken she had tried to sneakily move out of the fridge Buffy poked out of the fridge. "You're making that up! And who said anything about me staying here for more than one night?"

"Maria must've told her, no idea why tho."

"Yeah right." Buffy mumbled before turning her attention back to the fridge.

"Seriously! You think I made Maria lie for me to keep you here? While it's certainly flattering that you think i would go through so much trouble it's simply not true." When no answer was forthcoming Cordelia resumed her preparation and moved over to the table, neatly placing everything where it belonged before sitting down herself.

"Well .. I have no problem staying here for a while, anything is better than the uncomfortable silence and accusing stares back in that house id rather call prison." Buffy closed the fridge and came over to set down a plate, and another, and another. "But I have some ground rules I'd like to set up first."

Smirking Cordelia leaned back to watch this spectacle. "Shoot."

"First off, no more provoking the slayer, what you did last night could have gone soooo damn wrong if.." Cordelia held up a hand to stop yet another tirade from the blond. "Alright I get it, no more teasing the big bag slayer."

"Aaand that's leading to my second point, no more teasing. As fun as that may be at times, it's really confusing for me to be teased like that when you have no interest in me i-in that way. So no more hidden meanings, no more innuendos, n-no more touching and stuff. Yesterday was an exception because we were both pretty upset, a-about a lot of things and we had to get that out. It was emotional, a-and we calmed each other down, no harm down right?"

"Hmm.." Pondering this for a second Cordelia agreed without much of a fight. "Alright, no more sexy talk or hands on stuff, got it, what else?"

Buffy stopped slicing parts of the chicken up and dropping it onto a heavily smeared piece of bread. "Uh.. well.. n-no patrols together, at least until you had some proper training and no mayor end of the world kind of stuff is going on."

"End of the world stuff, right.." Cordelia huffed. "Anything else?"

"Hmm.. no I think that would be the most pressing matters, do we have a deal?"

"Deal." Cordelia smiled.

* * *

 **In front of Giles house**

"Tell me again why we are visiting the school librarian.. at his house?"

"He is my watcher too, remember? No wait you don't know that yet.. do you?" Buffy looked at Cordelia with a confused look. "Nevermind, doesn't matter, i haven't had a chance to get in touch with him since.. then.. so it's important we went here straigth away."

"After you cleared half my fridge."

"Well yes, breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

"Right.. ... It was 2pm."

 **KNOCK KNOCK**

 **...**

 **...**

"Buffy? Oh Buffy thank god! Willow she.. oh .. why hello there Miss Chase." Obviously startled Giles did his best to hide the urgency that had been in his voice.

"Relax Giles she knows, what was that about Willow?"

"She .. WHAT?! How could you .. Why? Oh bloody hell... come in come in. No need to make even more of a scene for the neighbours." He ushered them in and tweaked the bridge of his nose, feeling a severe headache coming up.

* * *

 **In front of the Rosenburg Residence**

"Alllllrighty! First deed of the day we go and visit the stuffy schools librarian, at his house of all places. Then we find out that little willowy Willow might be a witch with healing powers. I wonder what's next!"

"That's not funny Cordelia."

"Hell it is!" Cordelia started to laugh. "This is great, life is so damn boring once you have seen stuff like this."

"I'm glad that you are getting a kick out this, maybe that will buy me some peace and quiet once we are back at your place. I could really go for a few hours of relaxation instead of constant life altering changes or sexual tension that could cut steel."

"My my someone is grumpy.."

 **KNOCK KNOCK**

...

...

"Buffy? Buffyyy!" A red Whirlwind pounced on to Buffy, blabbering non-stop. Cordelia did not even attempt to understand what Willow was talking about and rather leaned back and watched the spectacle with a bemused smirk. "Right Buffy, what were you saying earlier?"

The blonde could not hide a grin at this as she untangled Willow from her.

"Cordelia? Oh hi, I-i .. uh.. did not see you there." She went over and gave her a quick hug, as if to show her that it was totally normal for her to go around hugging people. "I'm glad you are doing better, looks like the.." Lowering her voice and glancing left and right before going on Willow added the last part. ".. the spell worked! How cool is that?! Me? A witch!"

"Let's get inside Willow, we have a lot to talk about." Buffy said and motioned for them to get in.

* * *

 **Sunnydale Mainstreet**

"Visiting creepy Englishman at their home, check. Finding out that one of your closest friend is a witch, check. Getting touchy-feely with said witch in front of the whole neighbourhood, check. Hey Buffy what's next?" A frosty glare flew past Cordelia but she did not mind, this has been the perfect day so far. Plain fun, no baggage. _'I should really stop poking Buffy tho, it may not be on her cute little_ list _but I should not overdue it. On a more serious note it was nice to see Willow again, she is such a sweet girl and she must like me if she went through all the trouble to cast a healing spell on me. Unless it's really easy to cast a healing spell when you are a witch.. I should read up on stuff like that. I'm sure uncle Giles would be delighted to give me a book about that.'_

"Sorry Buffy, honestly. Where are we going? Oh, hey look remember this coffee shop?" That made the slayer stop and turn around. 'Uh oh.'

"I'm hungry." Biting her tongue to stop the obvious reply, Cordelia nodded. "Yep me too. Let's grab something to eat and head home, you wanted to relax a bit right? I swear I will leave you alone and stick to those rules you set up, scouts honor." Mumbling something Buffy turned back around in search for food.

* * *

 **Chase Mansion, The outdoor Pool**

'Finally! Some quite time, I can't believe Cordelia kept her word.' Buffy stretched a bit before slouching back into the deck chair. 'So much has happened these last couple of days, I wonder what life will be like when we can go back to school. Then again that's still somewhat far way, I'm suspended for quite a while and Cordelia has to act as if she still had problems with her arms.'

"Another soda for you?" Came a calm voice from somewhere beyond Buffy's large straw hat. "I'm about to turn in for the day just so you know. If you want anything else now would be the best time."

"Oh no thanks, you didn't have to bring me the last one either, I would have gotten one myself." Buffy said after putting down the hat to the side of the chair.

"Don't be silly, you are such a nice girl and have brought so much warmth back to Cordy's life, god bless you." Maria placed down Buffy's drink, picked up the old one and headed inside.

 _'Huh, did I now? I do not know what her life had been like before but .. if she is happier now I guess it is ok for me to endure her weird behavior for the time being. I mean she must have had a mental breakdown the other day, she was totally out of it. Something like that does not come from nothing so I should cut her some slack when she is teasing me, especially considering what I did to her._ ' Sighing Buffy nipped at her drink. _'But it is so weird to be around her, it's simply too much. She laughed at me when I implied she might love me which in retrospect was a poor choice of words. I should have rather said that I thought she was interested in being with me .. well .. that way._ God _I can't even say it in my own head. Ok .. ok.. calm down.. you can do it!_ '

Taking in a deep breath to help getting her spirits up for the big plunge Buffy was startled when she heard Cordelia's voice. "Hey, I waited for hours now to give you some space.. is it ok if I take a dip?" Squinting up at the shadow but not really being able to make out anything Buffy nodded and closed her eyes again. "Yeah sure, thanks for .. you know."

"No problem, I can only imagine how stressful my new me can be for someone like you." Buffy was about to sit up and inquire what she meant but there was already a splash so she leaned back down. _'Someone like me huh? That almost sounded like an insult, as if I wasn't open minded enough or something. Pfff right.. I'm the slayer, I live on the Hellmouth, my parents are divorced, I have a friend who is a witch and I'm gay.. it's kinda hard to be.. any.. more.. openminded._ Hey _wait a second!_ ' Smiling Buffy put her hands behind her head. _'Look at that, I can totally admit it, next step: saying it out loud.'_

Thoroughly enjoying the bathing sun and silence Buffy almost fell asleep, the rhythmic splashes coming from the pool did not bother her at all. Once they stopped however she started to worry.

"You sure you want to put them out on display like that Buffy? Someone might comment on them, and we can't have that now can we?" Came a voice again. Realizing what pose she was in Buffy quickly crossed her arms in front of her chest before opening here eyes in a squint. Light flooded in, harsh and jagged but she wanted to look Cordelia in the eye while scolding her for .. what really? Technically, she had not broken any of the rules. Blinking against the setting sun, the shadow turned into a form and darkness melted into a face looking down at her. An angelic face, haloed by rays of gold. Hard lines met sensual curves, mirth met chiseled stern features, wet hair cascaded down a neck that begged to be kissed and touched. "Damn, I'm so gay." Buffy muttered out in stunned awe.

"Well well well, look who finally said the magic word, good for you! And since you made that remark after staring at me can we scratch one or two of those rules off of your list?"

"Oh fuck.." Buffy said, realizing what she had just muttered.

"You really don't want me to comment on that last part do you?" Cordelia's smirk was cut short as a rather huge straw hat flew right at her.


	13. Back to School

**Interlude**

The next two weeks went by in a breeze. Buffy visited her mom every other day but it felt forced and it broke her heart to see her mom so .. alive and carefree. As if nothing better could have happened to her then her troublemaker of a daughter finally leaving the house, even if it was only temporary.

Cordelia had kept her promises and even tho there still was teasing and friendly banter nothing major or overly embarrassing had happened for which Buffy was grateful. As it turned out there was quite a lot for which Buffy was grateful. She had opened up a lot during her time at the Chase Mansion, finally being able to talk to someone about everything that troubled her lifted a giant weight from her soul. Cordelia had turned out to be a great listener and wise beyond her years once she realized the conversation was about something serious or important. Maybe she had always been and never dared to show or her time self-reflecting after the stair fiasco had open this door. Buffy was not sure but she didn't care, this was just another side to the mystery that made up Cordelia Chase and it helped the slayer immensely.

It was about time for Buffy to return home for good, not that either she or her mother really wanted her to but it seemed like the natural thing to do considering the suspension was about to run out. This was going to be the last day in the Chase Mansion.

* * *

 **Chase Mansion, Guest room**

Buffy packed up what little stuff she had brought over and glanced around the guest room one last time. Zipping up a bag she went off in search for Cordelia, somewhat dreading the coming conversation. The brunette had told her earlier that they should have a talk before Buffy left, to get the stories straight so to speak. They had to come up with a believable story to feed to the rumor mill as well as the authorities. But this was not what Buffy was worried about, it was the short sentence afterwards. ".. and we should talk about us." She had said and if that didn't sound like trouble Buffy was not sure what did.

She found Cordelia in a small reading room, which was an odd sight to say the least. The brunette said on a windowsill with an old leather bound tome on her lap. "Hey.. what are you reading?"

Somewhat startled she stood up and put the Book back where it belonged. "Just something I picked up from Giles the other day."

"You .. what?"

"Well since he knows I know there was only a tad bit of awkwardness involved when I asked him about it. He should really lighten up a bit." Cordelia mused before motioning for Buffy to have a seat and in quick succession laid out a plan of action. It all came down to a dare gone wrong. Buffy had dared Cordelia to sneak into the library and steal a rather valuable tome when the cheerleader slipped from a bookcase and broke her arms. Buffy had panicked, riddled with guilt about daring Cordelia to do such a thing she tried to get the other girl to the front of the school as quickly as possible knowing the medics were bound to be there soon. When Jesse had tried to stop her she simply lashed out, not wanting to be slowed down on her way to the medics.

"And that's about it, knowing how people here eat up every little lie as long as it keeps them blissfully ignorant I think it will work. Same as with my arms, I will keep them covered up the whole time and claim they still hurt. If everyone asks why I'm able to get back to school again I'll simply claim that I've had worse and that I'm a rapid healer. Not like it would normally take several month to heal instead of weeks but hey as I said, people in this town are ready to believe pretty much anything." Cordelia finished, proud with what she had come up with and looked over at the blond. "What do you think?"

"Wow, yes, that's great. You really put a lot of thought into this hm?"

"Yes of course, this is serious Buisness Buffy, I hope you realize how close this was? You could be in jail right now, Jesse in the morgue and me .. well.. ." Buffy flinched with every part of the story. It was so easy for her to ignore things like that. _'Maybe I'm a bit like everyone else in this town hm? As long as I'm happy I do not really think or care about anything else.'_

"Sorry.." Buffy mumbled. "So .. umm .. that's what we are going to tell everyone. What about the other thing you wanted to talk about?"

"Well that's a bit more complicated and not really something that's for me to decide now is it?" She said with a hint of accusation in her voice. "We went through a lot these last weeks and you learned about my new me, something I'm very proud of and don't feel like hiding." She quickly held up a hand before Buffy interrupt her. "But I understand that it would cause .. problems.. for you if I would blow your cover with my constant teasing."

"T-thanks." Buffy replied but instantly felt like the worst friend ever.

"It will be very different than before and I'm not sure how everyone will react, then again changing people's opinions has always been a theme with me, maybe this will not be any different. I am their queen after all, aren't I?" Cordelia smiled at this but for Buffy it was plain to see that the other girl had her doubts. _'I'm such an asshole, here is this wonderful person who forgave me for something unforgivable, who made me laugh and cry, who helped me open up and listened to me when I needed a true friend.. and I-i ..'_

"Y-yes you are." Buffy all but croaked out as tears started to fall.

* * *

 **In front of the steps leading up to the school**

Miss Summers drove of without a word after getting Buffy to school. Holstering her stuff with a sigh she made her way up the stair where she started to hear murmurs. Fearing the worst Buffy glanced around fully expecting everyone to stare at her. That was not the case however, she was being blissfully ignored, instead there seemed to be some sort of commotion on top of the stairs. Buffy could make out some of her classmates whispering and pointing at something she could not see. She slowly made her way through the gathering crowd and that's when she saw Cordelia in all her glorious new self.

It was as if the world had abandoned the sun and rather revolved around her. Everyone was staring at her, cheering her on, yelling praises. She was the epitome of confidence and wore something that defied words. It was a krass black outfit that seemed to be a mix of evening gown and business dress. As she spotted Buffy she gave her a discrete wink and all the blond could think was 'You really are a queen.'

* * *

 **The Cafeteria**

"I wonder how she is going to eat something in that .. thing." Willow wondered as she stared over at the crowd of people that surrounded the talk of the town.

"Considering how tight it looked I don't think she can." Xander quipped before wolfing down a sandwich.

"Hehe that's true, I did look awfully tight, b-but did you see how it .. kinda .. pushed.. nevermind. Oh hey there is Buffy. Remember what I told you." Willow added with a stern look which made Xander hang his head. "Yeah .. sure.."

"Hey guys! Oh wow looks like the queen is still causing a lot of ruckus hm?" She flopped down in front of Willow and started to eat as conventional as possible.

"Hey Buffy, yep she is, I don't think it will stop any time soon. Ever since the two of you left school everyone was going crazy with theories, but now she is back and it seems like every single student is praising her as the returned Messiah or something, its soo weird."

"Well I don't know about the girls but i certainly know why the guys are cheering her on." Xander added with a grin. "oh.. and hi Buffy.. its good to have you back." **POKE** "Ouch.. Hey! .. Oh .. yeah and I kinda want to apologize."

"Apologize, what for?" Buffy asked before going on with her meal.

"Well, when the whole .. thing .. happened I was somewhat mad at you for hurting Jesse, who is doing great by the way. ... ..."

"Aaand?"

"And nothing.. I'm sorry about that, I should have known that you had freaked out about Cordelia's accident and all that."

"So you are apologizing for something that was only in your head?" Buffy raised an eyebrow at him. _'_ Wow _the story Cordelia made up certainly traveled fast and far already.'_

Glancing at Willow with an I told you so look Xander went on. "Well .. uh .. kinda."

"Don't worry about it Xander." Buffy said with a genuine smile. "It's totally understandable and I deserve it.. I mean .. I really shouldn't have lashed out the way i did, no matter the circumstance. Thank god Jesse is alright, I'll have to find him later on." Not sure what else to say Buffy kept digging into her food and the rest of the lunch was spent in light conversation.

 _'This is soo much different from being with Cordy in her mansion. It's like a totally different world. Let's take Willow and Xander here, they are not like most other students around here and outcasts to a degree so they should be interesting to be around. Hell, Willow even turned out to be an aspiring witch but it all lacks .. color .. somehow.'_ By now Buffy had finished her lunch and was about to get up when Willow spoke up.

"Um.. Buffy do you think you could come over to the library later? There is this paper I'm working on and I could use some feedback." Buffy took a look at Willow to figure out what this was about but Xander was paying too much attention. "Umm .. Y-yeah sure, around 3?" The redhead nodded and they made their way to the next class.

* * *

 **The Library**

"Willow?" Buffy asked with a slight hesitation, she had been on edge ever since she entered the door. Being back here where it all had happened was a bit too much for the slayer. When no answer was forthcoming she started to look around in earnest, as it turned out the Willow was back in Giles office, surrounded by piles of seemingly prehistoric books.

"Oh.. hey Buffy. I didn't hear you come in, come sit down." Doing just that Buffy sat down and picked up the closest book. "Arcana Stimulantia?" Picking up another "The inner Demon?" Buffy quirked an eyebrow at the redhead. "Having fun here are you?"

"Yes! It's amazing, like a door had opened and there is this whole world for me to explore a-and in this world I am important and powerful. Was it like that when you found out about being a slayer? Giles would not tell me much about that when I went to him after .. the hospital." As she mentioned the hospital her mood seemed to dip a bit and Buffy suspected it had something to do with the side effects of her spell. From what Giles had told her Willow may be able to cast some very advanced spells she should not be able to do without years of training, but when she did it took a toll. The more advanced the spell the greater the compensation. Her watcher had not gone into details but it must have been a pretty bloody affair.

"No.. not at all." Buffy replied after letting her thought wander for a bit.

Willow missed the sadness in her words and simply went on to tell Buffy about her latest experiments and studies, which was not that interesting to Buffy considering Giles went on about stuff like this for hours. "Anyway.. that's not why I asked you to come here."

"Ok, what is it?" Buffy asked and tried to loosen her muscles at bit, she would much rather be out running a bit at the moment.

"I-i spent quite a while with a good way to ask this .. b-but I don't think there is one.." Willow fiddled around with a talisman she had pulled out earlier.

"Considering what I've been through the last couple weeks I doubt anything you could ask me would even come close .. um .. no offense or anything." Buffy smiled down at the redhead as she stood up and stretched for a bit. "So com on, spill."

"W-well I-i kinda know where you spent the last weeks, w-which no one else in school does a-as far as i know by the way .. s-so nothing to worry about." She flipped the talisman from one hand to another, and Buffy found herself unable to look anywhere but right at the tiny thing as it whirled about.

"S-so.. why would you spent all t-this time with Cordelia? NO! N-no wait don't answer that .. um .. oh right.. how do you feel about Cordelia?" But it was already to late, as soon as she had asked the first question the talisman started to glow faintly before vanishing with a soft hiss. She looked up at Buffy in alarm but the slayer stared straight at where the talisman had been up until a second ago and swayed slightly back and forth.

"Her maid told my mom it would be a good idea for me to stay there and help Cordelia deal with recovery, which was partially a lie since there was no more injury. At least no physical one, I think Maria wanted me to stay to cheer Cordelia up. She has been going through a very rough time and the accident was only the tip of the iceberg, so I did." As soon as the last word left her mouth Buffy blinked and shook her head.

"I'm .. I'm sorry Willow what did you say?" Shaking off the last remnants of the spells Buffy noticed a droplet of blood coming out of Willows nose. "Hey.. you got something there."

The redhead looked at her wide-eyed and squeezed out a lame. "Oh." before wiping it away.

"So .. umm .. so whats up with all the old tomes, having fun?" Buffy asked.

"Y-yes .. It's amazing, l-like a door.." Willow started again, with a lot less gusto than the first time she had told the Slayer.


End file.
